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// XII December 
// Story: Twilight's Blog 
// by Frith 
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We'll All Float On OK

Dec 1: It's been a while since I've had a nice soak in a hot tub so I went to the Ponyville Spa this afternoon. Rarity and Fluttershy had already left but another pony showed up soon after I'd settled in. We soaked together in silence, just enjoying the warmth and the herbal scents. Now that my winter coat has grown in, I float a lot more. I felt weightless and tranquil. The spa ponies were using a herbal mix they'd bought from Zecora. Very relaxing.

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Call of the Hay Burger

Dec 2: I felt the call of hay burgers and horseshoe fries today. Around midday, I gathered up Spike onto my back and headed out the door toward the Hay Burger. We caught sight of Rainbow Dash as we entered Ponyville so we called her down to join us, and we picked up Pinkie on the way. 

There's always a crowd at the Hay Burger and the food is as messy and oily as always, but service is fast! I remember Pinkie telling us how feeding as many customers as fast as possible is key to profits in the restaurant business. Well, this restaurant has that down to a T. With all the ponies at the tables there, I'm not the only one who keeps coming back for more. But I feel as blah as I usually do after eating there. 

The food was good while I was eating it but afterward there was a whole rumbling, uncomfortable lecture coming from my stomach and there about. I'll never learn. I'm washing out my sore stomach with jasmine tea. Spike is fine, of course. I think dragons could eat just about anything.

Still, I got my Hay Burger fix along with a few of my best friends. It was a good day.

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She Comes Across Like Diamonds

Dec 3: After nibbling a bit on grass stubble near the Treecastle, I dropped in on Rarity in her boutique. Over jasmine tea and chocolate dipped hay crackers we chatted about this and that, like the Royal Lipizzaner Ballet, her Canterlot Boutique, winter fashions and yak felt clothing. 

She has designed really warm clothes this year. I think she still feels the cold from our excursion into the sunless north. She has added gem stone grit along the edges to give the blankets and flowing robes a fresh snow glitter, but with color. They look very nice. 

Rarity is looking splendid in her winter coat. All those trips to the spa have helped her look soft, shiny and luxuriant. I kidded with her, telling her that if she always looks this good, her customers will think soft fur au nature is the new black and they will spend all their bits at the spa and not buy clothes. She didn't know whether to thank me for the compliment or glare at me for suggesting she was turning ponies off her dresses.

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Living Off The Edge

Dec 4: I was part of another Hay Board meeting today. The hay harvesters delegate gave us a report on the progress and environmental impact assessment of the new field expansions. So far they've removed rocks, used contour tilling to limit erosion, smoothed the ground, worked in fertilizer, and left in woodland corridors for wildlife at key locations. All should be finished by next week, well before the Running of the Leaves. Between the wildlife corridors and the increase in edge density, the delegate forecasts an increase in primary productivity and wildlife density in the new areas.

Then Animal Team Leader Amethyst Star gave us a detailed account of the changes that were made to the affected wildlife habitat. Namely, new burrow and brush pile (rabbitat enhancer) construction, and hollow stump and snag relocation. Rocks removed from the new fields were piled up to make winter dens for snakes. Amethyst Star reports that all is now ready to house the local hibernating critters.

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Finishing Touches

Dec 5: I worked some more on the final draft of my article for the Canterlot Explorer's Society Quarterly journal. I think it's about ready to be submitted for review.

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Habitat For Hibernation

Dec 6: Since I wanted to see the new enhanced winter warren development that Amethyst Star had told us about last Hay Board meet, I talked Fluttershy into giving me a tour. It wasn't hard to convince her. 

She snapped up her wildlife kit, collected Angel (her bunny) and off we went. First stop, a big rock pile in a wildlife corridor in the western pasture expansion.

Snakes are already exploring these new rock piles they've built. I kept a respectful distance and an open eye on the ground, in case one should slither by. Maybe Fluttershy could have chosen something else to show me. But Fluttershy is quite proud of her rock piles. They're built in sheltered spots on sunny slopes to keep the snakes from getting too cold in the winter, and they're the warmest spots in the woods in the fall and spring. Now I know which areas to avoid in the late fall and the early spring. 

Next it was bats. In another sunny location Fluttershy and Amethyst Star made a kind of bat roost central with several hollow, upright snags. Fluttershy said that the bats approve of the setup and have moved in in large numbers. I took her word for it and I didn't look too closely to see if I could see any of the winged mammals. At least they only come out at night. We moved on to a hilly area.

There, Fluttershy and Amethyst Star chose the sides of bowls and nestled hills on higher ground to excavate dens and warrens for most of the critters. That way they won't get flooded and they're protected from the wind. Angel hopped down from Fluttershy and demonstrated just how fast a bunny can dig when he's in the mood, choosing a spot under a brush pile.

The brush piles that are in with the dens are for critters that prefer the extra protection a pile of branches can give from swings in temperature, but most of the brush piles are elsewhere. They are distributed in locations along many of the new fields, just inside the forest edge, for bunny use during the summer.

The winter dens, warrens, snags and rock piles are grouped in clusters. This is not just because the animal team selected the best locations for denning. They're also clustered to make finding them again in the snow on Winter Wrap Up Day that much easier, and to speed up the time it takes to wake all the critters up and serve them their first post-hibernation meal. The dens are on higher, well drained ground, but all the critters must be awake before the Weather Team can clear the winter clouds and melt the snow.

Well, I'm happy to report that after all their planning and hard work, the Animal Team and the ponies clearing the area to make new fields have built some first class hibernation homes for our wildlife, and in plenty of time for the critters to move in.

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In The Mail

Dec 7: Here goes nothing. I held my nose, stuck a wax seal on my final draft and mailed it off to the Canterlot Explorer's Society publications office.

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To Where Pastures and Forest Meet

Dec 8: This is the usual day Rarity and Fluttershy go to the spa, but I didn't feel like it. I wanted to go somewhere quiet, with a few books. Away from this windowless stone tree-shaped stable. Well, it does have windows, but you can't see out of them. This is what you get when a magic rock builds you a home. I went out.

I found a sheltered spot at the edge of a field, a little nook facing the sun with the root disk of a fallen tree at my back. A great view, out of the wind, dry, grazing a few steps away, perfect. I sprawled out on my picnic blanket and read. I had a book on dietary considerations when entertaining browsing ruminant dinner guests, another on non magical water purification structures and techniques, and a few old issues of Poplar Mechanics that I've borrowed from Applejack.

Nightfall arrives early this time of year. I stayed out by the field until twilight blended into moon rise, then I gathered my things. I walked home under a canopy of stars, to the Friendship Treecastle, where Spike awaited with hay crackers and a bowl of hot beet pulp soup.

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Tasty Rocks

Dec 9: I wonder what's keeping Spike from eating the faceted columns lining the walls and snacking on the colored stones hanging from the ceiling in this Treecastle. He's got will power, but he's also absent minded sometimes.

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You'll Play Your Part

Dec 10: What I ought to do is start up a fresh Friendship research project. It would be an extension of what I and my friends had been doing, when we would stumble over a friendship lesson, write it down and either mail it to Princess Celestia or make a note in a common journal. This time, what I envisage is to call on the ponies of Equestria to mail Friendship lessons to me. Then, every week, my friends and I would meet to audit the lessons and file them. Eventually, they could be components in a reference book on Friendship: "The Magic of Friendship, a Reference Manual".

Since my mandate, as Princess of Friendship, is to share the Magic of Friendship with everypony, involving all ponies in this quest will further that goal.

This would be an open ended project, but that wouldn't stop us from printing a first edition of this Friendship book we'd make and sending copies to libraries all across Equestria. Then we'd print updates. Then a second edition, and so on.

I'd better see if my friends are up to this. I'll also have to research how to make and distribute a proclamation. There must be a book on that subject somewhere.

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Call to Council

Dec 11: Well, I made the rounds, dropping in on each of my friends in turn. I told them over snacks and tea and serving as a clothes model and pulling a hay cart, that I am considering creating a compendium of friendship lessons from across Equestria. I'm a bit stiff and full of tea. I've invited all five to join Spike and me for supper tomorrow to discuss this together. 

It's research! My friends could be a bit more excited... I told them it'll be easy, we'll each play to our strengths and do this together, like we always do. We've trained for this. (That got Rainbow Dash's attention!)

Tomorrow Spike and I will see what's in our pantry and go to the market to see what we can get to make a good supper for seven. Right now Spike is sleeping and I'm just too full of tea.

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Friendship of the Round Stable

Dec 12: For supper Spike whipped up a pumpkin sesame soup, followed by hay casserole with sunflower seeds and raw cubed acorn squash. He also made a lemon poppy seed bread which we served with apple butter. There were carrot and turnip sticks to munch on, and for dessert, beet pulp cookies and oatmeal swirl ice cream.

While we ate we started to discuss how often we should convene and how to proceed. I would be the pony to go through the letters first, arranging them by type and writing a summary of the actual lesson for particularly long and rambling letters. Spike would read the letters aloud and together we would weigh their pertinence to friendship and the strength of the lesson. That could be tricky. Spike would take notes.

This is assuming we get any letters at all.

I proposed using my book of Friendship Lessons as basis for organizing the new lessons and filing them for efficient retrieval and reference. Dash looked relieved that I'll take care of that. To each her strengths!

This may be a good way to spread the Magic of Friendship, but Equestria is a big pasture. We'll get through this puzzle, one small bite at a time.

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They Sparkle and Twinkle and Some Even Fly

Dec 13: Research on proclamations or official request writing is on hold! There are meteor showers to watch! Rainbow Dash has cleared the skies, I've rounded up my friends again, Spike is keeping the snacks coming and the beverages hot and we're all out on the big balcony, wrapped in blankets and watching the skies! I just popped in to get another bowl of hot apple cinnamon spice punch and Spike's basket. So many shooting stars, and more tomorrow!

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Fill In The Blank Page

Dec 14: You know that there are a _lot_ of ponies in Equestria? Thousands. Many thousands. I'd better be careful on how I word this official request for friendship lessons. If everypony feels that they have to send in at least one friendship story or friendship lesson, we will drown in the paper flood. Maybe I should start small. I could just post the request in the Ponyville Express. Or I could take five minutes to address the crowd waiting to start galloping at the Running of the Leaves. Or I could address the students at the Ponyville schoolhouse. Then work up from there.

I worked on the proclamation today. I'm toying with the idea of including a fill-in-the-blanks form letter, with a checklist of usual types of friendships. Or how about a list of conflicts and cooperative puzzles solved by friendship? Can't do that, I would be biasing the data. How to ask? Probably something along the lines of: describe a conflict, problem, task or event that was solved or made easier through friendship. Or, tell me of the time you and your friends fixed something or solved something you all thought would be impossible to solve or fix. I need to write that so it looks official And fun. And important. And useful.

Princess Celestia makes this kind of thing look so easy.

I realized that I had to make sure I wasn't going to get myself into hot water with this. I had Spike take a letter and send it to Princess Celestia -- is it OK to make a call for friendship lessons in the Equestrian press?

She wrote back, I can request letters in this way as long as it's voluntary and clear that I'm not paying for these letters. She added that I need to be clear that I reserve the right to summarize or change or omit the submissions as I see fit.

I think I'll go out and watch for more shooting stars.

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Of Uneven Ground Hiding Pitfall Wells

Dec 15: I really do have to hope I get this launched right. Rarity and Moondancer have shown me what sudden overwhelming demand on their time can be like. Slow and cautious it will be.

With the Ponyville students, there would be the advantage that, while they may all jump at the chance to mail me a friendship lesson, they will soon move on to something else and forget all about it. 

At the Running of the Leaves next week, I expect most of the ponies there won't be in a frame of mind to be thinking about the nature of friendship. And what if my oral request gets reported in the press? What if the reporter gets it wrong? So I am back to publishing a written tract in order to keep the message straight.

I'm still stuck on the formulation of my request. The more I work at it, the more complex it gets. There are so many permutations and outcomes in friendship. Would ponies understand what it is that I'd like to see if I call for examples of altruism, mutual support, tolerance and well being in a friendship framework? Or perhaps simply, how friendship made your life and the lives of your friends, better? If my request looks esoteric, it might control the flood. Or maybe there wouldn't have been a flood at all, and I'll get nothing.

Into the clearing the stallions go
Talking of Mare. E. Angelo.

Well, I'd better test the waters with the Ponyville Schoolhouse students. I'll talk to them about friendship and how being a good friend makes you a better pony. I'll tell them about my discoveries about friendship. I'll also provide a written invocation for each student and a scroll for them to fill in. It should start: Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle...

I'll have Spike buy twenty new scrolls tomorrow.

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Test of Concept

Dec 16: I'm going to need a chapter on anti-friendships in the book. It occurs to me, thanks to Starlight Glimmer, that antagonism from other ponies can change the course of pony endeavor and spur some to make lasting friendships.

This is research -- questions that spawn still more questions.

I saw Cheerilee today and I'll be by to talk to her class tomorrow afternoon. Spike picked up twenty blank scrolls and he copied out, on twenty sheets of paper, the task that I will be giving them. Namely, to tell me how friendship made your life better and what you learned to do to make that friendship stronger. Test launch of the cooperative community data collection project on building and strengthening friendships is a go!

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Friendship 101

Dec 17: The students have a week to write a friendship lesson. I think my exposition on friendship went well. At least I seem to have had their rapt attention. I'm not sure they understood what it was I was saying, but they have my written request which they can read when they wake up from their 'oh, wow, a princess, here' collective trance. I think the only questions I got were "may I have your autograph", "may I have my picture taken with you" and "do you really live in the Friendship Castle?" It's up to Cheerilee now to explain what I said and to collect the letters from the foals that have a friendship lesson to share.

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Foal Free Picture

Dec 18: I picked up a copy of the Foal Free Press this morning and sure enough, it has pictures of me. There was a short article too which stated that I had talked about the Magic of Friendship at the school, but it doesn't mention my call for data. There wasn't anything in the Ponyville Express. I doubt there will be either, talking to a class full of young students isn't news. Now I just have to hope some students at least thought about friendship.

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Being There

Dec 19: My draft article for the Canterlot Explorer's Society publication is back. The editor and the referees have penciled in lots of notes and arrows, changing my phrasing here and there and making several requests that I expand some things and shorten others. "Quote things said by your yak guide and the rescued explorers, in their own words". "Say how this made you feel", "what were you thinking at the time", "I can't feel the hardship here". 

What is this, psychotherapy? 

Well, I stuck my hoof into this, I'm going to slog through it. You'd think this Society would be more interested in how to choose the right snow to make building blocks for a caribou snow-stable than how often my stomach grumbled and how afraid I was that my hooves would freeze off. Maybe I'll throw in one of Machur and Pinkie's jokes.

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Sweating It Out

Dec 20: What I get from the editors notes is a general idea that the readership of the Canterlot Explorer's Society Quarterly isn't interested in a guide to how to prepare for a trek in northern Yakyakistan but just what it was like to be on our expedition. I'm interested in details and how things fit together and that is what's reflected in my travelogue. I'll ask Rarity for help on this.

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The Horse Snows the Way

Dec 21: Today is the last day of autumn and the beginning of winter. Of course there was the Running of the Leaves to clear the trees, then together with my friends I raked up the leaves and prepared some of the critters for hibernation in the new denning areas. And then Rainbow Dash made it interesting. She tried to stop winter.

Rainbow Dash has a pet tortoise that she really likes, although she usually tries to hide her affection. Today there was no doubt -- she tried to keep her tortoise from hibernating.

We were out in the Whitetail Woods raking up the leaves that the Running had knocked out of the trees and expecting snow. Fluttershy swore she had seen a few flakes earlier, but then the skies cleared again. Foals were running around crashing through the piles we'd already made, which was funny to watch, fun for the foals, but not so fun to rake all over again. Fortunately they ran off looking for even bigger leaf piles to scatter and I got my pile loaded on Applejack's compost cart, for use enriching the fields, or to be just piled up to make safe havens for mice, snakes, insect larva and small critters.

So while we were doing that, Applejack noticed something was going spectacularly wrong in Cloudsdale. Next thing we knew, Cloudsdale spat out a giant snowball which went flying straight for us. Fortunately, when it hit, it only buried all of Ponyville and surrounding areas fetlock-deep in snow. Some spots it was knee deep, but generally, the snow spread out pretty evenly. Instant winter. That put an end to raking the last leaves.

It turned out that the snow dump was Rainbow's fault. She was trying to sabotage Cloudsdale's snow cloud production, and all due to her ridiculous unwillingness to let her tortoise hibernate. Well, she failed and she had to accept that a tortoise has to hibernate. There were a lot of shed tears and I got chided for being insensitive! 

This is a friendship problem, and Dash had to see that sometimes a friend needs his rest. Dash is usually so brash, but I think it's her Element of Loyalty that was pushing her buttons here. Tank is very loyal to her and that resonates with her Element. It's probably fortunate for the rest of us that our pets don't embody our respective Elements or we could be saddled with the same feedback Dash gets from Tank. Dash doesn't want to hear any of this and my less than analytical friends aren't helping me, but they helped Dash. That's another Friendship Lesson. Empathy. I just hope Dash doesn't dig Tank up mid-winter to see if he's alright.

Well, winter's here and Dash's crisis is over. It's like what one of my quillpals wrote about Friendship: we can have quarrels and rough moments, but we're friends and we'll always be friends.

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Lights of the Party

Dec 22: The harvests and preparations of autumn are over. Today is the first full day (and night) of winter. There is snow everywhere thanks to Rainbow Dash. The weather ponies cleared the sky and at nightfall, the moon rose over the sparkling snow. Serene, beautiful and fresh.

Princess Luna is resisting the idea of there being a winter celebration in her honor, something more specifically for her than the somewhat goofy Nightmare Night. I'm sure everypony would love a Winter Moon Festival.

With or without Princess Luna's blessing, we had an impromptu night sky festival, just my friends and I. We chose a hill near the Treecastle to spread a few blankets, some on the ground, some to drape over us. Pinkie set up  paper lanterns here and there. With Dash's help, she set off a few fireworks. Rarity stamped little shafts in the snow all around us and in each she placed a lit candle. After the noise and smoke of the fireworks had drifted off, Fluttershy served hot tea and Applejack got out the baked apple treats she'd brought. Spike had had the idea to bring sparklers. He lit a few dozen and I lifted them high into the air where I made them fly about in spirals, circles and geometric patterns, faster and faster until it looked like the sky was full of miniature shooting stars. 

After the sprinklers burned out, the Crystal Empire sent out streams of color from the Crystal Heart. We huddled together for a few hours, Rarity's candles making the snow glow white all around, Pinkie's lanterns bobbing slightly in the breeze, and above us the living sky. We sipped tea, chatted and admired the beauty of Luna's night. 

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Away From the Heat

Dec 23: I used Moondancer's Haycartes spell variant to drop in on her. I think she is a little stressed out. I could see her from my spot on the open page, sitting half hidden behind a great wall of reading material. I got her attention by calling out her name, but she was so startled that she knocked over a whole pile of scrolls and sent them rolling every which way. When she trotted closer, I could see her breath. I reminded her that it's winter now.

She told me that her furnace stove is buried in books and that she just hadn't got around to clearing them off. I think that letting her house look like she's not there might also be why she's not heating yet.

In other news, Moondancer has agreed to be a guest lecturer for a class on advanced study techniques early next semester. That's when she'll be teaching the Haycartes spell. The flood of ponies piaffing her door and whickering at the window has slowed to a trickle, but she'll be relieved when she has given the lesson and she'll get some peace. She said she's usually at my place now, and the heat is on there.

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Tabulating the Data

Dec 24: Cheerilee came over and dropped off the Friendship Letters her students wrote. I've read and sorted them. Many repeated the examples I gave. Some just stated that they had friends and they have fun together, which is a bit vague. Well, time to get my friends together, to sit in our thrones, and weigh the lessons. Then I will present our findings to the class to complete the loop.

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Trees Please Me

Dec 25: It looks like many of you, in your corner of your universe, are having a winter festival of sorts. It involves trees and gifts and friendship, but it lacks a star appreciation or a windigo repelling aspect. That's no doubt because you lack pegasi to clear the clouds and you probably don't have a windigo threat. Well, happy holiday! May your tree blossom with friendship, remind you of spring and produce a bountiful harvest of gifts!

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It Was a Torturous Journey Of Hardship And Discovery

Dec 26: With Rarity's help I've finished the rewrite of the Canterlot Explorer's Society article. Or I should say that _we_ finished it. Rarity put quite a bit of pulpy drama into it. We tested it out on Rainbow Dash (who's in a bit of a funk right now since her tortoise is hibernating) and she perked up a bit. But not for long. It reminded her of the Daring Do stories she'd read to her tortoise. So, success? We should have found somepony else to test it on.

Come what may, it's done, sealed, and mailed. I hope it doesn't come back.

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Chemistry

Dec 27: Tomorrow we get together in the Map Room and go through the new Friendship Lessons I've collected. I've made a rough, first pass sort-through of the pile Cheerilee brought me. We'll go through the list, evaluate them, and inscribe the friendship lessons in my volume. And try not to bore Dash.

What is the spark that ignites a friendship? I felt that spark during my confrontation with Nightmare Moon... it seems so long ago. What brings on that realization, the dawning that a pony is your friend? Can we build a protocol for laying down a framework from which friendships can grow? Can we find a reliable catalyst that will ease the transition from stranger or antagonist to a stable friendship bond? Or will friendships always rely on putting ponies together and hope that they find a common goal or interest?

I share therefore I befriend.

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The Friendship Council

Dec 28: We met this afternoon in the Map Room. I had everything prepared for a round-table analysis and I had sorted the friendship lessons I'd received so far. First, there were the letters that mirrored lessons that I and my friends had already written down. For simplicity, I reminded all of us of what we had experienced, then Spike read out a summary I'd made of the letters giving the same lesson. Then he listed the ponies who'd written them. That cleared most of the pile quickly. Rainbow Dash was still awake! Bonus! Spike was also furiously scribbling down notes on what we covered and where we filed the new material.

That was the warm up. On to new material. There was the lesson from Flareblitzfury, that even when communication breaks down, a friend learns to have faith in a friend that cares for them. That's similar to what we learned when we didn't know what a parasprite was and we couldn't understand what it was Pinkie was doing. From Algernon97 came the lesson that friends may quarrel, but friendship brings everypony back together, and that it's always hard to say goodbye to a good friend. I think we all glanced at Dash.

More lessons. A good friend shares what they like with you and will sample new things that you offer. Pinkie Pie approved of this lesson. 

A good friend will go out of their way and spare the time to lend a hoof. Applejack approved. 

A good friend helps you find your flaws and weaknesses and gives you the motivation and courage to understand how to master them. Rarity felt this lesson resonated with her. 

While it is easier to become friends with somepony so similar to oneself that it's like holding up a mirror of perfect familiarity, a good friend will compliment your familiar likes and strengths with new and seemingly oddball quirks. It is from these exotic friendships that we build magic, understanding and community. I got a lot of blank looks. That lesson needs a hoof trim.

Overall, I think the Friendship Council was a success. It was a bit vague, but then what we are attempting to quantify is nebulous. At least we are getting back into the friendship halter! The after-council supper with all my friends was the best part. Good food builds strong friendships.

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Refreshed

Dec 29: It was cold and dark today, perfect motivation for a trip to the spa with Rarity and Fluttershy.  I just felt the need for some soothing mud, a hoof trim and a long hot soak in the hot tub with my friends. After the spa we stepped out into the snow, all shiny and fuzzy in our winter coats, radiating heat and good cheer. 

Rarity invited us over for tea at her boutique. She was dying to show us the full body winter gowns that she'd just made with Crystal Empire lamb's felt and fabric she'd bought in Canterlot. With the hood, they cover a pony from head to tail! I particularly liked the small sparkling flowers she'd sewn into the hem lines. They were made from dragon-cut gems. Très chic. Rarity has such a knack for design.

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Blanket of Snow

Dec 30: Yesterday's grey weather, it turns out, was the weather ponies setting up Ponyville and area for a winter snow storm. Rainbow Dash bombed us with snow on the last day of autumn, but we need more snow to properly insulate the ground. When the snow is deep enough, a subnivean gap forms between the snow cover and the ground. That gap is dark and has a steady temperature, perfect for mice. The steady temperature of the ground also makes winter dormancy of plants and hibernating critters easier. So today we got snow. Lots of snow.

Naturally, the snow falls everywhere, not just on the fields and forests. Ponies have been out clearing the paths to their doors and pushing the snow out of the streets all day. I have it easy. I have a dragon. Spike uses his dragon fire to melt the snow on our walkway. Fortunately, that doesn't send the snow off to Princess Celestia! (She'd get buried!) It just evaporates and drifts off with the breeze. If it was a lot colder out, his snow-melting would produce a frost-building fog. Like it did during a cold snap last winter. The frost was very pretty.

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Winter Wonder Land

Dec 31: The snow covered trees, fields and houses were beautiful this morning. Beautiful and nearly silent. The snow dampens the sound of hoofsteps in the streets and absorbs the sounds of doors closing and voices. There were other ponies out enjoying the view too, but everypony I passed spoke in hushed tones to not spoil the morning's mood.

The sun broke through the few remaining clouds and the snow everywhere sparkled like it was made of white diamonds. I missed this side of winter, when Ponyville looks so fresh and clean.

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