16

by AlwaysDressesInStyle

Act I: Snowcatcher (Part 1)

I stood at the top of the hill and looked down over the city of Whinnyapolis. That’s a long way down. I laid down on the sled and pushed off with my hind legs. I zipped down the hill on my sled, passing other sledders and skiers on my way down. This is fun!

I’d reached the bottom of the hill, but the sled still had a lot of momentum. Much to my dismay there was a unicorn filly in my path. There was no way to avoid her – I was going to plow right into her. I closed my eyes and waited for the impact. I wish I could get her out of the way!

A few seconds later I opened my eyes. I hadn’t crashed. She must’ve moved. I breathed a sigh of relief. The sled was slowing down and I saw the filly hovering above me in an orchid aura. Wait, she’s a unicorn, not a pegasus. How is she flying?!?

The sled skidded to a stop and the filly was still hovering above me.

“Are you gonna put me down, now? Please?”

“Huh?”

“Put me down!”

I crossed my eyes to get a look at my horn – it was lit up. Oh my gosh! I’m levitating her! That’s awesome! How do I stop? “I don’t know how!” I turned my head, and the filly turned with me. No matter which way I turned my head, the poor filly was directly in front of me, airborne. I looked down and she landed upside down in a snowbank.

I bounded over and helped her out. “I’m sorry! I don’t know how I did that! I’ve never lifted anything before!” I held up a hoof to bump. “I’m Snowcatcher, but you can call me Snowy.”

“Dewdrop Dazzle.” She shook herself out, though the powdery snow stubbornly clung to her coat. She thought for a second. “But you can call me Dewey.”

“Nice to meet you!” I curtseyed, and she tried to do the same but slipped, falling muzzle first into the same snowbank I’d just pulled her out of. I bit onto her tail and tugged her out for the second time. “Wanna come sledding with me?”

“Sure!”

With Dewey’s help, we were able to get the sled back up the hill a lot easier than had I been able to do on my own. Once we reached the top, Dewey kicked off and down the hill we went. With Dewey’s extra weight, we were going faster than I’d gone on my solo run. Everything was awesome until the tree appeared directly in front of us.

“Steer left, quick!”

“How?”

“I don’t know! It’s your sled, Snowy!”

We both leaned to the left and the sled tipped over. Dewey, myself, and the sled all continued sliding down the hill, no longer connected to one another. I landed in a heap at the bottom of the hill and Dewey tumbled into me. The sled continued on past us.

I stood up and dusted myself off. “Are you okay?”

“I think so.”

“Wanna do it again?”

“Yes!”

I smiled and bumped her hoof. “Besties?”

“Besties!” she confirmed.

It was the end of the school year, and we’d just completed our final test. There was nothing left to do but wait impatiently while Miss Hocus Pocus graded our papers.

I sat at my desk, talking with Dewey about our summer vacation plans. My family was planning a trip to Indianeighpolis to catch the 500 mile Wonderbolt race, while hers was headed to Las Pegasus later in the summer.

“Dad never misses the Indianeighpolis 500.”

“I wish I could go. Mom and I love the Wonderbolts, but Dad just isn’t interested at all.”

I nodded. I’d pick her up some Soarin’ merchandise like I did every year. She’d get me a tacky souvenir from Las Pegasus, like she did every year. Thanks to her, I had a small collection of merchandise from cities I’d never been to. I gave her bonus points for always finding the most horribly cheesy things from everyplace she traveled. The city’s name was almost guaranteed to cover at least sixty percent of the item’s surface area. The first had been an oddity, but now I was up to four and that constituted a collection. I’d even picked one up for Whinnyapolis, celebrating Equestria’s largest ball of yarn. It was just as tacky as anything Dewey had picked up for me, but I had high hopes that Las Pegasus, a city known for its gaudiness, could achieve new levels of awful. I glanced out the window, and could see the top of the giant ball of yarn all the way across town. Whinnyapolis might not have the tackiest souvenirs, but if anypony ever offers an award for ‘tackiest skyline’ we’re a horseshoe-in.

Miss Hocus Pocus returned our tests, and allowed us to leave as soon as we received our paper. Dewey was pleased with her B+, but waited around for me to get my test back. Of course, my paper was the last in the stack and all our classmates had departed by the time Hocus Pocus gave me mine. I stared at it. There’s no grade on it.

“Snowcatcher, I’d appreciate it if you could have your parents meet me here at 6 o’clock this evening.”

“Yes, Miss Pocus.” I shuffled out of the classroom, Dewey trailing after me.

Once we were out of the classroom, Dewey asked me what I’d done. I shrugged. I led the way to the city library, and we spent the next few hours comparing our answers, then looking up any questions Dewey had answered wrong. As far as we could tell, I’d gotten every question right.

“It doesn’t make sense.”

“Maybe she thinks you cheated?”

I groaned at Dewey’s suggestion. “She never left the classroom. She would’ve noticed if I’d been cheating.” I returned the test to my saddlebag and Dewey followed me home.

The front door creaked as I opened it, alerting Mama to my presence. “Is that you, Snowy?”

“Yes, Mama.”

“How was the last day of school?”

“I don’t know.”

If ever there was a way to get a parent’s complete attention, that was it. Mama’s hooves thundered as she ran down the stairs. “What happened?” Her voice wavered; without more information she was unable to decide if she should be stern or protective.

I hoofed her my ungraded test, and Dewey passed her B+ over to Mama too. “Miss Pocus wants to see you and Dad tonight at six. I don’t know what I did wrong.” My ears flattened as I continued, “We stopped at the library on the way home. I looked up the answers and they’re all correct.”

Mama scooped me into a hug and told me everything was going to be all right.

I accompanied my parents to their meeting. If I was accused of something I didn’t do, I fully intended to be there to defend myself.

I sat across from Hocus Pocus, my parents on either side of me as she sorted through her desk drawer. She shuffled some papers, then started laying them out on the desk between us like a card dealer in a poker game. “Math, 100%. Science, 95%. History, 110%, with both extra credit questions correct. And this Equish essay is easily on a level with students three years her senior. Read this.”

My parents looked over my essay as I sat there confused. It doesn’t sound like she thinks I was cheating. But why would she call my parents in to speak with her?

“Your daughter’s a prodigy. She may be a genius. Have you considered having her take an IQ test?”

Me? A genius? That’s just silly. My writing’s only better than my classmates’ because I like to read a lot.

“The next step is up to you, of course, but you have my full endorsement if you want to look into having Snowcatcher skip a grade.”

Skip a grade? That would be cool! But… Dewey’s in my class. I can’t leave her behind. That wouldn’t be right. Best friends forever and ever!

“Furthermore, Snowcatcher’s also very advanced magically for her age. You may wish to consider pulling her from this school entirely, and apply to Princess Celestia’s School For Gifted Unicorns.”

It was a lot to take in. As we walked home, Mama asked me what I wanted to do. I thought about it and decided I didn’t want to take the test. Knowing my IQ wouldn’t make me any smarter, and in the end all it meant was having a number associated with my name. I didn’t want to skip a grade because it would mean leaving Dewey behind. I also wasn’t interested in going to school in Canterlot, yet I was very interested in taking advanced magic lessons.

The last vestiges of the dream I’d been having slipped away and my mind groggily came to for the morning. My first thought was that my bed was warm and snuggly. I always slept best cocooned in blankets, and the chill of winter only helped that. My first really coherent thought was the memory of Daddy promising that there’d be six inches of powdery snow when I woke up. As Whinnyapolis’ weather manager, he’d know.

My second thought was to prod my loose tooth with my tongue to see if it had fallen out while I slept. It hadn’t. My third thought was to see if my sister was awake yet. “Snow’El?”

“Snow-C?”

“You up?”

“No. This is a recording.”

Ever since she’d turned twelve, Snow’El had become quite adept at sassiness. But she was still my big sister, and we still loved one another. Because she was both older and a pegasus, she had the top bunk, which I was quite jealous of. Not because she had the top bunk, but because her bed was an honest to goodness cloud. Even if there had been a ladder to get to her bed, I’d have just sunk right through it if I could get up to it. But it looked so comfortable I was always tempted to try it regardless.

“It snowed.”

“Of course it snowed. It was scheduled.”

“Wanna build a snowmare?”

Snow’El opened her mouth to make a smart-alecky retort but stopped in her tracks. Finally, she muttered, “Yes.”

I grinned. My sister was in a hurry to grow up, but there were still certain things I could do or say to snap her out of it and get her to enjoy her fillyhood a bit longer. Playing in the snow was one of the few things we had in common. I didn’t know how many more years I’d be able to convince her to join me in letting her mane down and having fun, so I intended to cherish every last moment. I pulled the blanket off her bed and she fluttered into the air and tried to dive bomb me.

“Give that back!”

“Okay.” I shoved it back toward her. “It got you out of bed.”

She hadn’t been expecting me to give it back without a fight and her flight trajectory caused her to get tangled up in it as I deftly sidestepped the crashing pegasus. Someday she’ll grow into those oversized wings of hers, but until then… she’s about as graceful as a minotaur in a china shop.

She looked out the window as I put on my boots and scarf, then she followed my lead, putting on her own winter gear, including the new goggles she’d gotten for her birthday.

“You know, if we go downstairs Mom’s gonna make us eat breakfast first.” She unlocked the window and pushed it up. “Maybe we should take a different path down.”

“That’s easy for you to say! You’ve got wings!”

Snow’El grinned as she stalked me through our room. I backed up until my hindquarters bumped against my bed. “Commander Hurricane had a saying back in the day: Everything’s air-droppable at least once. Including annoying little sisters.”

As a student of history, I felt it was important to point out the obvious. “That last bit isn’t part of the quote.”

“Maybe. Maybe not. But there’s only one way to find out if it’s true or not.” She scooped me up under my forelegs and I was at her mercy as she defenestrated us. I dangled from her forelegs as she made a circuit of the backyard, before she unceremoniously dumped me in a snowdrift.

I flopped around in the snow, doing the one thing I knew would make my sister jealous – making a snow angel. It was her cutie mark, after all. As expected, she hovered above our yard, then struck a pose and let gravity do the rest. With her wings outspread, she made a perfect snow angel that put my best effort to shame. Show-off.

No sense trying to compete with her. I started rolling up a big ball of snow that would serve as our snowmare’s body, while Snow’El started on the legs. Once she had the legs done, I levitated the body on top of them, taking care to line everything up perfectly. Snow’El had the head ready to go once I’d mounted the body, and once more I levitated it into position. She ran off to find a broom for the tail while I added a few lumps of coal for eyes, and an arc of them for a mouth. Then I levitated a carrot to serve as a unicorn horn.

Snow’El returned with an old broom, and her tail swished back and forth as she put the finishing touches on our snowmare. Presented with such a target, I couldn’t resist throwing a snowball at her. I timed it perfectly, scoring a bullseye right on her rump while her tail was out of the way. She yelped in surprise, then chased after me.

I ducked under some bushes to evade her, using my smaller size to my advantage. She couldn’t fit under the branches without scratching herself, so she flew out of my line of sight. I knew better than to think she’d given up. We both knew that sooner or later I’d have to come out. When that time finally came, she’d be waiting.

Not that I’d be totally unprepared. I scooped up some snow and brought it to my hiding place, forming snowballs so I wouldn’t be completely defenseless. I weighed our advantages and disadvantages as I waited. My magic was my best asset, followed closely by my petite size. I could also use the landscape to my benefit, staying close to trees, shrubs, and the house. On the flip side, my blue coat was easily seen against the snow-covered ground.

Snow’El, meanwhile, had the advantage of flight. She could spot me from further away, and her own silvery coat would blend in with the overcast sky from the ground. But she was a larger target, and unless she could harvest it from the trees, she’d have to land to get snow. She was also limited to what she could carry in her hooves, while I could carry far more ammunition in my aura. On paper, it looked like a pretty even fight.

The first move was mine. She knew where I was, but she couldn’t reach me. As long as I chose to remain hidden beneath the shrubbery, I was in control. The second I stepped outside, all the plans in the world wouldn’t amount to a hill of beans.

I glanced through the branches, but my sister was well-hidden herself. She could be hiding on a cloud, or in one of the trees. If I was lucky, I’d emerge on the opposite side of the bush from where she was hiding. That would buy me a few extra seconds – precious time that might mean the difference between making it to an easily-defended position or being completely pelted with snowballs. But I could no more hit her from my position than she could get me. It was time to move.

I somersaulted out of my hiding place, tail whipping through the branches above me. That seemed way cooler in my head. I used the momentum to launch into a gallop, but all the noise I’d made had immediately alerted Snow’El to my position and she dive bombed me, strafing me with snowballs. After she unloaded her meager supply at me, I returned fire on the now unarmed pegasus, forcing her to retreat to the safety of the sky, to heights I couldn’t lob snowballs.

I continued unimpeded to the relative safety of the woods adjacent to our property, where I could use the trees for cover. Unsurprisingly, with my now unobstructed view, I confirmed that Snow’El was using our treehouse as her own base of operations. It was the most logical place for a pegasus. She was playing to her strengths as much as I was playing to mine.

When Mom finally called us in to eat lunch, we’d fought to a stalemate. She’d dropped snow on me from above, while I’d lobbed snowballs at her from below. She had to keep landing to reload, while I just scooped up snow in my magic as I ran. In the end, it didn’t matter if there was a winner or not; we’d both had an enjoyable winter morning playing in the snow. What more could two fillies ask for?

Snow’El helped me get my boots off, and I returned the favor. Then Mom made us go back outside to shake ourselves off. When we got back inside, there were three steaming bowls of macaroni and cheese waiting on the table for us, along with a massive loaf of garlic bread.

Mom broke the bread into three big pieces, buttered them, then finally levitated a slice to each of us. The garlic taste was subtle, not overpowering, and perfectly complimented the pasta.

I scooped a spoonful of mac & cheese onto my slice of bread and bit into it, savoring the flavors blending together. With the second bite, I bit into something hard, and spit it out onto my napkin. My tongue wandered to a newfound gap in my teeth as I looked at the tooth that had finally come out.

“My tooth fell out!” I held up my tooth for Mama and Snow’El.

“Looks like somepony’s getting a visit from the Tooth Breezie tonight.” Mama kissed my forehead. “My little foal’s growing up so fast.”

I pranced up the stairs to put my tooth under my pillow.

Mama, Pop, Snow’El, and I all sat around the fireplace, a jigsaw puzzle on the folding table between us, and mugs of hot chocolate within reach.

I yawned and dumped a few marshmallows into my cooled hot chocolate, then took a sip. It was at the perfect temperature, and I had to stop myself from draining the mug in a few gulps.

I stretched out on the couch, pulling the blanket Mama had crocheted over me. My eyelids grew heavy in the cozy glow of the fire.

I awoke sometime later as I shifted positions and found nothing underneath me. Thinking I’d rolled off the couch, my eyes flew open in a panic. I wasn’t falling, Mama was levitating me up the stairs to my bedroom.

“Sorry, sweetie, I didn’t mean to wake you.”

She set me down and I bounded up the steps in front of her. Snow’El was already in our room when I hopped into my bed. I snuggled under the blankets and Mama kissed my forehead. Then she kissed my sister on the forehead and I heard Snow’El halfheartedly grumble about being too old for that.

How can anypony be too old to love Mama? I hope I never get that old.

Mama chuckled as she blew out the candle, then trotted out of the room.

Once Mama was out of the room, Snow’El stuck her head over the side of the top bunk and looked down at me. “Wanna stay up late and see if we can spot the Tooth Breezie?”

“Yes!”

Snow’El climbed into bed next to me. Once I was comfortable she wrapped a foreleg around me and we laid there, watching the window. She’d already lost all her foal teeth, but she still wanted to see if she could catch the Tooth Breezie in the act. We had a perfect view of the window, and we stayed up, chatting about everything and nothing at the same time.

It was nice snuggling with my sister – it had been a long time since we’d last done so. Once she started approaching adolescence, I wasn’t cool enough to hang out with anymore.

“I had fun today.” Snow’El tousled my mane.

“Me too, sis.”

The nap I’d taken had left me feeling invigorated, but it didn’t take long for Snow’El to drift off to slumber. Eventually, her soft snores lulled me into dreamland as well.

As I quietly put my boots on, I decided not to wake Snow’El up. If I bug her every day, eventually she won’t come out to play in the snow at all.

Dewey slipped away from the game she was playing with her siblings, and we ran around my backyard chasing each other. It was still snowing, and we enjoyed pelting each other with snowballs, before we decided to see who could catch the most snowflakes on her tongue.

I galloped around the yard, my tongue hanging out, trying to catch the biggest flakes on my tongue. Nopony had ever beaten me at catching snowflakes, and I aimed to keep it that way. I’d cut Dewey slack in everything else, but this was my event – the one I was named for. Got one! I enjoyed the cool sensation of the flake melting on my tongue as I pulled it inside my mouth.

I caught a few more on my tongue, then decided to catch one without sticking my tongue out. That was trickier, and I’d never managed to pull it off previously, but I opened my mouth and pointed my snout to the sky. Soon a flake landed perfectly in the gap between my teeth, tickling my gum where I’d lost a tooth three days earlier. That tickles!

I pranced around to celebrate my success and Dewey came running over. She pointed behind me, but I wasn’t falling for that trick.

“Cutie mark!”

Dewey wouldn’t joke about that. I turned and much to my surprise, there was a snowflake on my rump – one that would never melt. “Cutie mark!”

We did a silly little dance, then I raced back to the house, Dewey a few lengths back. I burst through the kitchen door, not even stopping to wipe my hooves like Dewey did behind me. “Mama! Mama! Guess what! Guess what!”

“What, sweetheart?”

“I caught a snowflake in my mouth without usin’ my tongue! It tickled and everything!”

“That’s nice.”

“And I got my cutie mark!” I hopped up on the coffee table and proudly displayed my newly-decorated flank.

“That’s great!” Mama kissed me on the forehead, at the base of my horn. “We’ll have to plan your cuteceañera later!”

I nodded my head, my mane bobbing up and down. “Can Dewey come?”

“Please?” Dewey pleaded from the hallway.

“Of course, honey. Anypony you want to come will be invited.”

I thought about it, but couldn’t think of anypony else I wanted to invite. “Just the Dazzles and us would be great. I don’t need to invite everypony at school.” Half of them don’t even acknowledge my existence, so why would I want them to come?

“If you’re sure that’s everypony you want to invite; we could probably have it tonight.”

I nodded. “Yup! That would be swell!”

The weather team had added to the existing snow overnight, blanketing our backyard with a fresh coating of snow. Gone were the hoofprints we’d trampled into the previous snowfall, and the snow was still coming down. Anypony could request more snow for their property at any time, but aside from the Dazzles and us, few others ever did. It helped that the Dazzles were our neighbors.

It was a blank canvas. I fought the urge to run out there right away. “Snow’El?”

“Yeah?”

“It’s snowing!”

“I know. Let me sleep.”

I’d been anticipating her reluctance to join me outside after the first snow. I signaled out the window, and, as one, a herd of interlopers descended on our backyard.

“But the Dazzle horde is laying claim to our backyard right now. Who’s going to help me repel their invasion?”

Her eyes opened. Seconds later her snout was pressed against the window alongside mine. “Those sneaky little brats! That’s our snow!”

Pegasi were notoriously territorial. It didn’t matter that Snow’El was half-unicorn – the Dazzles intruding on our property was a challenge. Challenges needed to be responded to. Preferably escalated.

She opened the window and grasped me under my forelegs. Then I was airborne. I’m flying! My flight was short-lived before Snow’El found her target and dropped me. I’m falling!

“What do you know, little sisters are air-droppable at least twice!”

“It’s raining mares!” was the last thing Dewey said before I crash landed on top of her. She checked her watch. “You’re way early. It’s only a quarter past eight. You’re not supposed to show up until half past ten.”

I rolled off my friend and groaned. The disco song she’d referenced would likely be stuck in my head for the rest of the day. I scooped up some snow in my aura. “If you wish to continue Stayin’ Alive, I suggest you start running now.”

She giggled and started galloping toward her own backyard, with me in pursuit. I continued scooping up snow as I chased her, forming perfectly spherical snowballs that trailed behind me, waiting for the perfect moment to be unleashed in righteous fury.

The battle for air supremacy raged on overhead, as Snow’El faced off against two of Dewey’s brothers, and Dewey’s youngest sister, Razzle, who could barely hover off the ground for a few seconds at a time. Partly because of her young age and inexperience, but mostly because her mother had wrapped her in so much winter clothing she could barely even flap her wings.

Much like my sister, I was outnumbered too. In addition to Dewdrop, two of her sisters were also unicorns. While both were younger than Dewey, they were surprisingly efficient at guerilla warfare, launching snowballs at me from behind trees and snowdrifts.

The Dazzles had the numerical advantage, but my magic was easily the strongest of the four of us. I dispatched Rainbow Dazzle with a barrage of snowballs. She dropped her own and galloped toward her own house – she didn’t make it. Her hat and scarf went flying as she tumbled end over end after tripping over something that had been left in the yard and completely covered by the snow. I trotted up to her and smooshed a snowball into her muzzle.

I offered a hoof to help her up, but she yanked me to the ground with her magic and we grappled in the snow. The two-and-a-half-year age difference was in my favor, and I pinned her fairly quickly. For her efforts, she earned another snowball to her snout. For my efforts, Dewey and her other sister Raindrop pelted me with snowballs while I was distracted with Rainbow.

My horn lit up and they both ducked behind a tree. I grinned – that was exactly where I wanted them to go. I snapped a few branches above their heads, showering them with snow. I stood up and pulled Rainbow to her hooves, then marched her over to where her sisters had fallen. Dewey’s pink, yellow, and purple tail was sticking out of one side, while Raindrop’s lavender legs were the only sign of her. I lit my horn and waved my hooves. “Truce!”

Snow’El and Dewey’s brothers landed, and we pulled the Dazzle sisters from all the snow I’d dropped on them.

My horn remained lit as I used my magic to help extricate my friends. That wasn’t the only thing I was doing with my magic, but it was important that the Dazzles saw my aura being used for something – that way they’d never suspect I was simultaneously sculpting snowballs from the snow covering the branches way above us.

Once Dewey and Raindrop had shaken themselves off, it wasn’t long before I felt a snowball hit my flank. My ‘prisoner’, Rainbow, had ‘escaped’ and retaliated. I laughed as I decided to teach her the meaning of the word ‘futility’. I pulled one of the snowballs I’d made from its hiding place in the trees and chased her around the yard with it. She was so focused on the snowball chasing her, that she didn’t see the rest of them as they came at her from the sides.

With the truce officially broken, I pulled the rest of my snowballs from their hiding place and sent them hurtling toward each of the Dazzles. Well, except for Razzle. We all had an unspoken agreement not to pick on the barely-mobile yearling. I even clunked my sister in the back of the head with one, making sure that it came from a direction that made it look like it had been thrown by one of Dewey’s brothers. That lit a fire under her rump and she tore off after him with a vengeance.

“It wasn’t me! It wasn’t me!” he screeched as he whooshed past me, Snow’El in hot pursuit.

With Snow’El’s attention firmly on Hailstone, that left me to deal with the rest of the Dazzle horde. All things considered, it was a relatively even fight. The odds tilted in my favor once Thunderhead decided to save his brother from Snow’El.

We’d burned off most of our energy by lunchtime, and Snow’El and I joined the Dazzles. Sorry, Mama, as much as I love you, Mrs. Dazzle’s the better cook. Mrs. Dazzle was more than willing to feed us, since we’d occupied the horde for a few hours. She was one of the few mares I knew who could make the mundane magnificent. Case in point – she served us corn and potato chowder. A simple meal by anypony’s definition, and yet it was sublime.

After eating heavily, the last thing any of us wanted to do was run around, so instead we started building snow forts. The Dazzles’ fort was a simple construct, a wall with delusions of grandeur. It paled in comparison to the fort Snow’El and I made. It had four sides, a tower, and a trench around the entire structure. It would force approaching unicorn invaders to jump down and then climb up the wall, while suffering an onslaught from my sister and myself. It was probably completely unnecessary from a strategy standpoint, as the pegasi would fly over it, but we needed to pull the snow from somewhere to build the fort; might as well make it serve two purposes.

Dewey and I each grabbed large tree branches and stuck them into the snow, then I borrowed a pair of dishrags from the kitchen that we attached to the branches to serve as makeshift flagpoles. Whoever captured the other’s dishflag would be the winner.

I looked up at my teal rag flying in the breeze, then looked at the mint one I was trying to capture. I really hope Mama’s not planning on doing the dishes today. As I continued gazing at my opponent, I realized she was rolling up snowballs with her magic. Way to go, Dewey! Your magic’s improving.

Without taking my eyes off my friend, I rolled a few hundred snowballs. I split my pile in half, and shared it with sister. We were better prepared, but suffered from a distinct numerical deficiency. I was in charge of defending our fort from the Dazzles, while Snow’El would alternate between trying for the Dazzle’s flag and backing me up if anypony got too close.

Our strategy was uncomplicated. We were outnumbered six-to-two, so rather than go on the offensive, we climbed to the top of the little tower I’d built and let the Dazzles come to us. Dewey’s brothers took the bait, Thunderhead and Hailstone circled our fort from afar. Close enough to spy on us, but just out of snowball range… but ammo was the one thing we weren’t low on so I lobbed a few their way just in case.

The rule was five hits and you were out. I studied our opponents and realized they’d made a tactical blunder we could exploit. “Sis?”

“Yeah?”

“They’ve only got two snowballs each.”

She did the same math I did and I was airborne seconds later, snowballs trailing behind us in my field. The two panicked pegasi made a beeline back to their own fort, but not before Snow’El got me close enough to land multiple hits on each of them.

Once we started receiving incoming snowballs from their sort-of-a-fort, I noticed that only Raindrop was harassing us. I turned and spotted Rainbow galloping towards our undefended base.

“Snow’El! It was a distraction. Back to base!”

Snow’El flapped her wings as hard as she could, but Rainbow was staying far enough ahead of us that the game would surely be over by the time we returned to our fort. Then Snow’El dove. She gathered speed and we started catching up to Rainbow. The unicorn raider looked over her shoulder and redoubled her efforts to evade us. She dodged and ducked, but to no avail – Snow’El had gotten me within range. I let loose with everything I had in my aura and she tumbled to the ground in a sea of snowballs.

Rainbow went back to her own house to sit out the rest of the game and warm up with some hot chocolate. Hailstorm and Thunderhead were hot on our hooves, and I’d expended all our ammo on Rainbow. My sister banked, but I didn’t. Snow’El gained altitude and I landed in front of the fort.

I’m getting really tired of being airdropped, sis.

The battle raged overhead, and Dewey’s brothers evened the score. Snow’El was unarmed and they weren’t. My sister made laps around the tower while I pelted Hailstone and Thunderhead with snowballs. In short order Hailstone and Thunderhead were eliminated from the game, but they’d nailed Snow’El three times.

I started rebuilding our supply of ammunition as Snow’El hovered over our fort, keeping watch. “Raindrop’s holding the fort. I don’t know where Dewey is,” I shouted up to her.

“She’s probably using the woods to sneak up on us.”

The thought had crossed my mind as well. If the Dazzles managed to take my sister out of contention, that would be my strategy to get to their fort. What if Rainbow had been the real distraction the whole time? She was galloping right in the open. Dewey could be anywhere.

“I’m going to check the woods.”

“Snow’El, wait!”

My words fell on deaf ears and I scrambled to the top of the fort’s tower. It was only ten feet above the ground, but without wings of my own, it was the best vantage point I was going to get. I sighed. Why does Snow’El have to be so impulsive?

I stared off into the trees, trying to plot my sister’s course with no luck. A few minutes later there was a surprised squawk, and Snow’El returned from the forest and landed in the fort with a tail swish. She didn’t even glance in my direction, which told me she was embarrassed because Dewey got the drop on her.

That left me to face Dewey, Raindrop, and Razzle Dazzle on my own. At least I had an idea of where Dewey was – my sister’s sacrifice needn’t be in vain. I started shaking snow out of the upper branches of the trees around where Snow’El had been caught unaware.

Dewey yelped and I knew I had her. I kept shaking the snow and finally she screamed, “You got me! I surrender.”

“You may need to go dig her out, sis.”

Snow’El nodded, a smile forming at the corners of her mouth. She realized that with Dewey down for the count, the Dazzles were down to just Raindrop and Razzle, the latter of whom didn’t really count. Razzle was hop-gliding across the snow between our respective forts, but making horribly slow progress. I had no idea what she was planning on doing if she actually made it all the way to our fort. She certainly wasn’t going to be able to fly up and retrieve our flag.

Dewey trotted out of the woods, with one of Snow’El’s wings draped across her withers. They decided to wait in the fort until the game was over. I would’ve kept them company, but I had a game to win.

Raindrop was halfway to our fort when I exited ours. There was no point in either of us sneaking through the woods – it was down to a race against time. One would stand, one would fall… and I had no intention of being the latter.

Raindrop had an average field strength, and she’d gathered a fair number of snowballs to use against me. But I had more magic, and hence more snowballs. What followed was a one-sided battle, as the snowballs she threw at me never made it through the wave of snow I sent her way. She ended up on her back in the snow, legs splayed and completely dazed. I helped her to hooves and patted her on the withers. “Good game.”

She mumbled the same back to me, and I set my sights on claiming my prize. With the Dazzles defeated, I trotted toward what was left of their snow fort to retrieve their dishflag. Just as I approached it, I heard the Dazzle siblings all cheering. I turned and bowed to them, but much to my surprise I saw Razzle Dazzle entering my fort. She jumped and glided, but couldn’t quite reach the flag. I galloped across the snow, as Razzle’s siblings shouted words of encouragement to their youngest sister.

“You can do it!”

“Hurry! Snowcatcher’s coming!”

I slowed as I approached my own fort. Razzle wasn’t even close to getting our flag. She was hampered by her clothing – she couldn’t even flap her tiny wings. I could easily trot back to her fort and retrieve her team’s flag without having to worry about Razzle succeeding. Or if I wanted to cheat, I could just grab it with my magic. Instead, the next time she leapt, my horn glowed, unfastening our flag from the makeshift flagpole. The teal dishrag landed atop her head, and the Dazzles all burst into cheers.

“I did it! I did it!” Razzle Dazzle pranced in a circle, giggling.

Winning isn’t everything. I levitated the filly onto my back and trotted over to her house, her siblings and Snow’El in tow.

I walked to school, Dewey by my side, eager to show off my new cutie mark. Unless one of our classmates also got their cutie mark over the Hearth’s Warming break, I was the first pony in our class to get her mark.

“Looks like you’re already attracting some attention.”

I followed Dewey’s gaze to some of our classmates pointing at me, but we were too far away to hear what they were whispering about. They’re probably jealous.

Summer Breeze swooped down for a closer look, landing perfectly on my back. “Snowflake! Cool cutie mark, Snowy! You see did what I did there, right? Cool. Snow.”

“Yes, I see that. Get off. I’m not a pegasus transport. Personal space, Summer.”

Summer Breeze hopped off my back with a huff. “Sheesh, Snowy. Always such a grouch. You should be nicer to me. It’s not like there’s a line of ponies who willingly interact with you. For what it’s worth, it’s a really nice mark.”

“Thank you.”

Summer smiled at me. “That wasn’t so hard, was it? You’re welcome!”

She was a grade ahead of us, but somehow Summer Breeze was even less popular than Dewey and I. At least we had each other, but Summer Breeze marched to the beat of her own drummer. Occasionally, that meant inserting herself into our activities because we were the only ones who would let her.

She hopped into the air and flew to school ahead of us, and I watched her go with a tinge of jealousy.

“You’re doing it again, Snowy.”

“What?”

“Staring at a pegasus in flight.”

“I can’t help it. Look at how much faster she’s getting to school than we are.”

“We could beat her if we gallop.”

I sighed. “There’s nothing majestic about a unicorn galloping.”

Dewey giggled. “Depends on the unicorn. An athlete, yes. Us? Not a chance.”

I conceded the point and we trotted the rest of the way to school.

We took our seats in Mr. Frostbite’s room and waited for the first class of the new year. I could hear snippets of conversations around us, and for once I was the topic of gossip mill. That was something I could live without, but at least ponies were talking about me in a good way… for once. A new cutie mark was a big deal.

Mr. Frostbite barged into the classroom and sat behind his desk. “Good morning, class! It’s a Monday, and the first day back from a month long holiday break. You know what this means?”

We shook our heads.

“Pop quiz!” He started laughing as we all groaned. “I’m just kidding. It means I don’t want to be here today any more than any of you, so how about we talk about what we did over the Hearth’s Warming break. That should take us up to lunch. Then maybe we’ll do some math or history or something after we eat.”

I forgot how lousy a teacher Mr. Frostbite is over the break. I really miss Hocus Pocus. Maybe I should seriously consider going to Princess Celestia’s school after all.

Half the class pointed to me. “Snowcatcher got her cutie mark over the break.”

I stood up and displayed my flanks for the benefit of those who hadn’t seen my newly-minted cutie mark, or who’d only caught a glimpse of it from afar.

“A snowflake?” Mr. Frostbite scratched his head. “That must be quite disappointing for a filly of your talents. I’m sure you were expecting a shooting star or something else of that nature.”

I blinked. Disappointing? But I like snow. “How so?” I finally stammered out.

“Most powerful unicorns get astral bodies as their cutie marks. Stars, comets, the sun, or even the moon. Snowflakes are for... well... ponies working on the weather team. Most of whom are pegasi for a reason.”

“Can you imagine a unicorn cloud pusher?” I didn’t need to look to know which of my classmates had shouted that – Moonbeam had never liked me.

“With your field strength I have no doubt you could push clouds around all day without setting hoof out of the weather team’s office, but that would be a tremendous waste of your potential. Keep in mind there’s much more to the weather team than just pushing clouds. For example, you could focus on snowflake-making. However, the weather team has plenty of options, and I’m sure you’ll find one to your liking. With your intelligence, you could probably advance into upper management pretty quickly.”

“Who said I want to work on the weather team?” Not that I would mind, really. But I want to make that decision for myself.

“It’s what your cutie mark is telling you to do. Weather marks for weatherponies.”

“Is wanting to make snowflakes wrong?”

Mr. Frostbite shook his head. “Of course not. It’s your talent – if making snow is what makes you happy, then that’s what you should do with your life. I just thought you were more ambitious than that.”

“I do have more ambition than that!” I frowned and my classmates giggled at my outburst. I don’t know what I want to do when I grow up, but I don’t think I want to spend the rest of my life making snowflakes. On the other hoof, I wouldn’t hate it… I’m so confused.

“Would you like to share with the class how you got your cutie mark?”

“I caught a snowflake in my mouth without using my tongue.”

The class erupted in laughter and I tried to sink through the floor. There’s probably a spell for that… Mental note: if it exists, learn it. If it doesn’t exist, create it.

“She’s a special little snowflake!”

“That’s your special talent?”

“How utterly useless!”

“Settle down, class.” Mr. Frostbite attempted to bring things back under control as I curled my tail around my flank to hide my cutie mark. “I’ll remind all of you that the pony you’re all mocking has the highest grade average in class. Before anypony says another word, ponder what that says about all of you.”

That shut the rest of the class up, but the damage had been done. I stared at my desk in shame. Dewey slipped a note onto my desk and I unfurled it in magic.

One day you’ll show all of them just how special a snowflake you really are!

“Cutie marks are all about finding yourself. Snowcatcher found herself, and I have confidence that she’ll rise to the occasion and make her mark on the world, regardless. I’ll be the first to admit I’m a lousy teacher. I don’t have the mark for it.” He turned to present his own mark to the class: a hoof covered in ice. “I was born down south in Chattaluna, but I discovered my special talent is I’m nearly impervious to cold temperatures, so I moved here to Whinnyapolis. I fell into this teaching position because plowing snow is a seasonal job. I offer you my apologies, Snowy. I didn’t mean to disrupt class, I genuinely expected you to get an astral mark of some sort. You don’t have to be a weatherpony. I tried to be one myself, but there’s no real demand for earth ponies on the weather team.” He turned to look at everypony else in class. “As for the rest of you, I want each of you to write an apology to Snowy for homework tonight.”

Everypony groaned and I raised my hoof in the air.

“No, Snowy, you don’t have to do the assignment.”

“Dewey didn’t laugh at me.”

“Dewey is also excused from the assignment. I expect everypony else to write a one-page apology, due tomorrow.”

I could hear my classmates grumbling about that, and I could tell they were blaming me for it. Like I care. None of you has ever given me so much as the time of day, so at least now you’ll have an excuse to hate me and Dewey.

The school day was over and Dewey and I waited until our classmates vacated the classroom before leaving. I suddenly found myself caring that they were blaming me for the extra homework. Our popularity had plunged from ‘barely tolerated’ to ‘despised’ with that single assignment. I knew that letting my classmates leave first was inviting disaster, but I also knew that if we tried to be the first ponies out the door we stood absolutely no chance of outrunning any of them. By letting them have a head start, my hope was that they’d give up and just go home.

I should be that lucky.

Seriously, it would make life so much easier.

Much to my dismay, most of our classmates were milling about the hallway and Dewey and I were separated. Nopony ever stayed after school without a reason, so it was blatantly obvious they intended to enact their revenge.

“Looks like little miss smarty-pants is gonna be a weatherpony.”

Three of my classmates surrounded me and started shoving me around. Earth ponies, all of them, they all were stronger and heavier than me and I couldn’t break out from between them.

“Such a useless talent for such a useless little unicorn.”

“I bet her magic isn’t even really all that strong.”

Not strong? I’ll show you not strong! My horn glowed and I yanked on her tail. I tugged hard enough to send her skidding down the hallway. With the newly-created gap, I galloped toward safety.

Unfortunately, they were in far better physical condition than I was and caught up to me quickly. Just as they closed in on me, Dewey appeared.

“Looks like it’s a two-for-one sale on useless unicorns! We get the one that can’t even do magic, too.”

“How about I throw in a pegasus?” Snow’El appeared behind Dewey, escalating the situation, as was her wont.

“Make that three.” Hailstone and Thunderhead let the bullies know they were now outnumbered.

“If you want to see some unicorn magic, we can arrange that.” Rainbow Dazzle’s horn sparked.

The three mean fillies started backing away, but Rainbow’s twin sister, Raindrop was behind them, and tripped one of them. The other two fell over her and Snow’El and the Dazzles advanced on them. “You mess with one of us…” Raindrop started.

“You mess with all of us!” The rest of them finished her sentence.

They took the hint. With the tables turned, they jumped to their hooves and galloped out of the school as fast as possible.

I was still shaking when Dewey nuzzled me. “It’s okay, Snowy. I saw what they were doing to you and got backup.”

“How did you get away from everypony else?”

“I tried to do some magic and it fizzled out like usual. But for once I think my magic actually did something, because the water fountain exploded. It’s probably just a coincidence, but if so, it couldn’t have been better timed. Everypony scattered when they started getting splashed on. It’s cold outside and nopony wants to go out there soaking wet.”

I nuzzled Dewey. My bestie. “Friends forever.”

“And ever!”

“Yeah!” Our respective siblings chorused their agreement. Come what may, the Snows and Dazzles would always have one another’s backs.

“Come on, sis. There’s a gallon of ice cream at home with your name on it.” Snow’El draped a wing over me and herded me toward the door. I let her lead me in the direction of our house, the Dazzles surrounding us.

If everypony in Whinnyapolis is this close-minded, that settles it – I’m applying to Princess Celestia’s School For Gifted Unicorns, and one way or another, I’m taking Dewey with me.

“You did what?!?” Dewey panicked at my revelation.

“I enrolled both of us in Princess Celestia’s School For Gifted Unicorns.”

“I’m not gifted! There’s no way they’ll accept me! How did you even get my parents to agree to this?”

I shrugged. “I didn’t. I just sent your application in with mine.”

Dewey facehoofed. “You can’t do that, Snowy.”

“Can, and did. You deserve to be in just as much as I do. I’ve seen what you can do with water. You’re incredible. Maybe they’ll have somepony there who can teach you how to use your power for levitation and illumination.”

Dewey stared at the ground. “How am I supposed to pass the entrance exam if I can’t do the basics, Snowy?”

I grinned and my horn glowed. Coincidentally, Dewdrop’s horn illuminated the room at the same time. “I can get you in.”

“I’ll immediately flunk out.”

“Not if I can help it, you won’t.”

“Snowy, just no.”

“I’m not going without you. Besties forever.” I smiled at her. I knew I had her over a barrel – she didn’t want to go, but she didn’t want to see me not go. It’ll be a good thing for her.

“You’re crazy. They’ll catch us and kick you out too.”

I shrugged. “Their loss, then.”

“You’re gambling with your future, Snowy.”

“Worth it.” I watched her expression carefully. She was almost to ‘resigned to her fate’. “If my future is making snowflakes while you create storm clouds, at least we’ll do it together.”

“You really are crazy.” She flicked her tail and I knew I’d won her over. “Fine, I’ll play your game, but when they kick us out, I’m so saying ‘I told you so!’”

“Deal!”

Dewey and I trotted next to each other, Mama to my other side and Dewey’s dad to hers. Several hundred other prospective students and their parents were on the tour with us – so many that they’d broken us into twenty groups.

The campus for Princess Celestia’s School For Gifted Unicorns spread out over at least a dozen city blocks of prime Canterlot real estate. The castle was visible almost everywhere on campus, and there were nobles who’d happily raze the school to the ground to build mansions here. That made sense – the princess would almost certainly want to check in on the school periodically, and wouldn’t want to travel far to do so.

Our tour guide pointed out the library and I started drooling. The thought of all those tomes of ancient knowledge called to me. The guide then pointed to a tower near the library, where a purple unicorn was scowling down at all of us. “That’s the residence of Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia’s prized pupil. She’s apparently not having a good morning, so let’s move on.”

I blinked. Is that a dragon next to her?!? Wow! I’ve never seen a dragon before! Mama, meanwhile, was watching me with amusement. “What?”

“Has anypony ever told you that you’re like a foal in a candy store when you get excited?”

“…No.” Except Dewey, my teachers, Snow’El, Pop, and Mama, repeatedly, so she knows I’m lying out my rump.

“You’re adorable.” She booped my nose. “Don’t let me stop you.”

I stopped the tail I hadn’t even realized I was wagging and took a deep breath. Focus, Snowy, focus. Don’t get kicked out for being a silly pony. The school was everything I’d ever wanted in an institution of learning. I don’t want to blow this chance.

“Over here is the Athletics Department. Princess Celestia’s School For Gifted Unicorns is active in all sports, and we play our games in Starswirl the Bearded Arena, a state of the art facility built just three years ago. It’s the most modern arena in all of Equestria. Our sports teams are… adequate. Princess Celestia’s School For Gifted Unicorns has stringent qualifications that must be met for a student to enroll, and unlike some other schools that make academic exceptions for particularly athletic individuals, we do not. We’re not particularly known for our hoofball program, but we’re the team to beat in any of the magical sports.”

I didn’t really care about sports, so I stopped listening at that point. Dewey’s father, however, was quite interested in knowing more, and more importantly, where he could buy merchandise for the team.

We started moving again, and the next stop on our tour was the science buildings. If there were any doubts left in my mind that I wanted to go to school here, they were banished immediately. They had real labs, not a Bunsen burner and a couple of test tubes, and the students were allowed to be hooves and horns-on. I had to consciously stop myself from wagging my tail. Dignified, Snowy.

I didn’t think things could get better than that, but our tour guide saved the best for last. “This is our Magic Department.” Even the ponies who’d been feigning indifference took notice. Mine wasn’t the only tail wagging this time. “Ancient tomes, priceless artifacts, and more. No other institution of learning has what we have here.”

Unlike the other buildings on the tour, we were led inside the Magic Department to an auditorium. “Please take a seat. The evaluations will begin soon.” About half the groups had made it back before us, with the rest arriving soon after.

Most amazing school in the world or not, the auditorium was set up with the most boring slideshow ever. We’d already seen everything that it was showing. There were no magazines to read like there were at the dentist’s office, but at least they had some trays set up around the perimeter that had snacks. I idly munched a daffodil as I wondered how we could keep ourselves occupied. Mama pulled a puzzle book from her saddlebags, and I set to work solving Number Place puzzles.

Dewey looked over my shoulder and gasped. “I’ve never seen a crossword puzzle with numbers before.”

I looked at the puzzle in front of me and grinned. “Hey Dewey, what’s a nine-letter word starting with ‘7’?”

“Seventeen,” she replied without hesitation.

I mentally tallied up the number of letters in ‘seventeen’ and found she was right. I clopped my hooves on the ground. Well-played, my friend, well-played. “Yup, that works. Thanks, Dewey!”

Seeing that Dewey and her dad were still sitting there bored, Mama pulled a pack of cards out of her purse and the four of us played Old Nag until it was time for my evaluation.

“Snowcatcher.”

I dropped my cards, including the old nag, and followed the mare to the examination room. I can’t consider that ‘winning’ the game, especially since I was holding the nag card, but it’s certainly a new way of ‘not losing’.

Entering the room, I dropped into a bow as I noticed Princess Celestia seated with the other evaluators. She motioned for me to rise and I did so. Wow, that puts extra pressure on me. I bet that’s the point, to weed out those who crack under pressure.

I smiled at the ponies who would be judging me. They didn’t bother introducing themselves, and they didn’t have name tags.

“Snowcatcher?”

I nodded.

“Light your horn.”

I did so, letting it glow with my orchid aura. The evaluators frantically scribbled on their clipboards as I brightened my horn further.

“Levitation.”

I looked around the room, trying to figure out what they wanted me to levitate. With nothing obvious to pick, I grabbed the classroom’s empty chairs and started levitating as many of them as I could, moving them around in a lazy figure eight.

Once again quills scratched on parchment as I demonstrated my abilities for them.

“Please demonstrate your special spell.”

I shrugged. “I don’t have one.”

“You have your cutie mark.”

I sighed. So this is how they’re going to pass on accepting me. “My talent is… catching snowflakes on my tongue. It’s not anything magic related and I don’t have a special spell.”

“Every unicorn has a special, you just haven’t learned yours yet. We can assist you with that.”

“You… you can?”

“Once you’re a student here. If you become a student here. We’ve seen enough, please send in the next pony, Dewdrop Dazzle.”

I stepped out of the room and motioned to Dewey, holding the door open for her. Once she was inside, and all eyes were on her, I snuck back inside, closing the door gently behind me. I hid under a desk in the back of the room, someplace where I could see Dewey, but the evaluators couldn’t see me. When they instructed her to light her horn, I lit it for her. Her horn glowed with my orchid aura. Dewey, I don’t care what I have to do to get you in, I’m not leaving this place, and I’m not leaving you behind. The way that instructor said they could help me learn my special spell before she corrected herself… I’m in.

“Levitation.”

This time I grasped random objects from around the room and paraded them in front of Dewey, while simultaneously keeping a glow over her horn to make it look like she was doing all the work. They kept the tests coming for Dewey, and I no longer knew what to expect.

“Precision.”

I compressed my field down to a pinprick around Dewey, then manipulated a piece of chalk, filling the blackboard with nonsensical characters.

“Dexterity.”

Technically, writing on a chalkboard should be considered an example of that, but if you want to see just how much I can do simultaneously…

I once more surrounded Dewey’s horn with a glowing light, while levitating some plants off the windowsill, and erasing everything I’d scrawled on the blackboard.

“Special spell?”

I winced. I had no way to replicate Dewey’s special.

I kept my glow over Dewey’s horn and hoped that if I kept it bright enough, it would obscure her own pale mint field. She trotted to the window and opened it, firing a blast of magic into the sky. I could hear the thunder as the clouds outside turned stormy.

“Weather magic. How unusual.”

Princess Celestia interrupted the evaluation. “I think this is a good place to stop for lunch. We’ll pick up with the next in line in an hour.”

The other three reviewers left the room and Dewey started to follow them but found herself restrained by a golden aura. “I’m sure you’re anxious to eat, Dewdrop, but I’d like to talk with you first. And you too, Snowcatcher.”

Horseapples.

“Did you fillies know that every unicorn’s magic has its own distinctive signature? Or did you just think we wouldn’t notice Snowcatcher took the entrance exam twice?”

“I don’t belong here.”

I nuzzled Dewdrop. “Yes, you do.”

“I can’t even light my own horn.” She closed her eyes and her horn sparked with a few hints of mint magic and gave off a faint mint glow. “That’s the best I can do. I can’t levitate anything at all.”

I sighed. “She sells herself short. Do you have a lake near here?” The princess quirked an eyebrow but nodded. “Can you take us there, please?”

“An odd request, but I requested an explanation and you’ve piqued my curiosity. Consider it done.” With a golden flash we were high above the castle, overlooking Canterlot below us. We stood on the shore of an alpine lake.

“Whoa. Can you teach me that? Please?” I couldn’t help myself. Teleportation was magic I hadn’t learned yet, because I didn’t have anypony who could teach me. I’d read about it in books, but it seemed too risky to attempt on my own without instruction from an expert.

“We’ll see, my little pony. That’ll depend on Dewdrop proving she belongs in my school. Because if she doesn’t, I’m not accepting your application either.”

I shrugged. “She will. If she’s not allowed in, I don’t want to go here anyway.”

“You can’t throw your future away like that.”

“I’m not. I have faith in you.” I patted Dewey’s withers.

“No pressure.”

I shrugged again. “No pressure. Whatever happens, happens. We’ll still be friends no matter what, and that’s the most important part.”

She sighed in defeat and stepped up to the edge of the lake. “What should I do?”

“Just be yourself, Dewey.”

Dewey’s talents needed to be seen to be believed. I’d witnessed them firsthoof, and now Princess Celestia was watching my friend trot around the bottom of a lake, with an air bubble surrounding her. Then she turned the lake turbulent before flash freezing it. After that, she demonstrated her weather magic again, causing us to get soaked in a shower, before she turned the rain to snow.

“Thank you, Dewdrop, for that wonderful demonstration of your talents. Would you mind returning the lake back to normal now?” Dewey complied with the princess’ request, while Celestia continued, “I haven’t seen a water elemental in centuries.”

“Did she pass her entrance exam?” I had to know. In that moment, nothing else mattered, even if tact would dictate not blurting out something like that in front of the princess.

Princess Celestia nodded. “You were right, my little pony, she belongs here too. And our tests never would have discovered that. More importantly, Dewdrop, we have ways to teach you to harness your power over water to substitute for the basics. For example, there’s water vapor in the air around you, and you can use that in place of levitation. When you consider that water covers approximately 70% of the planet’s surface, then factor in that everypony requires water to survive, and then throw in the fact that water comprises about 60% of our bodies, having power over water is a truly amazing gift.”

I tacklehugged Dewey, and the princess giggled. “I suppose this means the two of you would like to be roommates?” We both nodded. “I’ll make sure the arrangements are made. There’s just one last thing. There’s still the little matter of the fact that the two of you were cheating. You could’ve just come right out and stated you were a water elemental instead of going to all that effort. We could’ve adjusted things accordingly. I think a suitable punishment is hoofing it back to the school.” She vanished with a pop, leaving the two of us standing there, staring at the place she’d just been standing.

“I’m totally learning how to do that.” My mind was made up – teleportation was awesome and convenient.

“I wish you already knew.”

“Me too, Dewey, me too. Hey, you know, she didn’t say we had to go back immediately. Think this is one of those mountains that has snow year ‘round?”

“Only one way to find out.”

“Race you to the top!” I grinned.

“You’re on!”

As Dewey and I raced to the summit, I realized we’d missed lunch entirely. Oh well. Food or having fun in the snow? I know which one we’ll pick every single time. We can eat anytime, but we’re not getting to play in snow again back home for months.