Twilight Rides a Snowboard
Twilight couldn’t help but feel dizzy as she looked down the snowy hill. “This looked a lot smaller from the bottom,” she said.
“Relax, Twilight,” Rainbow Dash said with a sigh. “Snowboarding is just like flying.”
“That doesn’t help me,” Twilight snapped. “Has this hill always been this steep?”
“Of course, silly!” Pinkie said, sending a spray of white powder flying at Twilight’s face as she slid to a stop. “The hill doesn’t get steeper just because it snowed!”
Twilight covered her face with a yellow-gloved hoof to keep the snow from getting in her eyes. Winter had come as it did every year, only this time, she found herself wanting to do something more than curl up with a book in front of a fireplace. Spike was always busy helping Rarity with her new winter designs, so it was up to the lavender mare to find her own entertainment. Somehow, she’d let Rainbow Dash talk her into riding a snowboard. She’d read several books on the subject, but now that she was standing at the top of a hill, she suddenly found it difficult to remember anything she’d read.
“Look, it’s simple,” Dash said for the hundredth time, hovering in the air beside her studious friend. “Just turn sideways so the board points downhill. Turn the board to slow down, but don’t lean too far or you’ll fall over.”
“And when you do fall over, make sure it’s not on your face,” Pinkie added.
“Thanks, Pinkie.” Twilight inched closer to the edge of the hill, her heart pounding. Okay, Twilight, she thought. Just take it slowly. You can do this. Despite her self-assurances, a high-pitched squeak escaped her throat as the board began to tilt downwards. She squeezed her eyes shut as the board picked up speed and focused on just one thing: Don’t fall down.
“Twilight! You did it!” Twilight cracked an eye open and saw that she had, in fact, reached the bottom in once piece. Her face broke into an excited smile, and she turned and grinned at her friends. “That was super-awesome-riffic!” Pinkie shouted, somehow jumping up and down in her skis.
“Yeah, great, Twi,” Dash said, her front legs crossed and her face set in a bored frown. “How ‘bout we try a real hill now instead of this ten-foot bump?”
A blush came to Twilight’s face as she let out a small chuckle. “Yeah, I guess fifty times is enough for this one.”
“Hey there, Twilight!” The lavender mare turned to see two fillies walking towards her. “Y’all learnin’ to snowboard, too?”
“Oh, hello there, Apple Bloom,” Twilight said. “And you too, Scootaloo.” The fillies were wearing scarves, boots, and mittens and carried snowboards on their backs. “Guess everypony’s decided to play in the snow today.”
“Not us,” said Scootaloo with a mischievous glint in her eyes. “Apple Bloom and I are going to get our cutie marks!”
“Is that so?” Twilight asked.
“Yeah!” Apple Bloom answered. “We were thinkin’ the reason we haven’t found ‘em yet is ‘cause we haven’t tried any winter sports.”
“Where’s Sweetie Belle?” Twilight asked, looking around for the white filly. “She usually comes with you on your adventures, doesn’t she?”
“She got sick after yesterday’s try,” Scootaloo said.
“Yeah, guess her cutie mark wasn’t in polar bear swimming after all,” Apple Bloom agreed.
“Polar bear swimming?” Twilight repeated. “What in Equestria is that?”
“Hey there!” Rainbow Dash said as she and Pinkie descended from the top of the hill. “Still looking for your cutie marks, huh?”
“Yep!” Scootaloo said. “Today’s the day I get my cutie mark in extreme snowboarding! I’m gonna hit the biggest jump I can find and do a quadruple backflip, followed by a frontside 720! That’ll get me a cutie mark for sure!”
“Whoa, slow down there,” Dash said. “Snowboarding can be really dangerous if you try to do too much too fast.”
“Yeah! You could run into a tree or a snow bank or a log or an angry bear,” Pinkie added.
“A-Angry bear?” Twilight repeated.
“Nah, that never happens,” Dash said. “Well, not often anyways.” Twilight didn’t find that very reassuring, but Dash was already moving on. “Hey, we were just about to head up the hill. Wanna come with us?”
“Nah,” Scootaloo said. “We got some things to do down here first.”
“Well, okay,” Dash said. “Just watch out for ponies on their way down. You don’t want to get run over.”
“We will!” the fillies said in unison as they trotted away.
“Come on, Twilight,” said Pinkie. “Time to hit the real hills!”
I hope she doesn’t mean that literally, Twilight thought with a nervous gulp.
“Hold on,” Dash said. “Where’s your ski mask?”
“My ski mask?” Twilight stared blankly at her cyan friend.
Rainbow Dash put a hoof to her forehead with a groan. “Don’t tell me you didn’t bring a mask.”
“That’s okay,” Pinkie said as she stuck her hoof in a nearby snow bank. “I keep ski masks stashed all over Equestria in case of ski mask emergency.”
“Is there anything you don’t have stashed all over Equestria?” Twilight asked as she took the mask from the excitable pink mare.
“Nope!”
“Okay,” Dash said slowly. “Now that we have that figured out, let’s have some real fun!”
Don’t worry, Twilight thought as she followed her friends to the ski lift. I’m sure it’s not as bad as you think it is.
“Oh, this is even worse than I thought,” Twilight muttered. If the little hill made her dizzy, the full-sized one was enough to make her faint. It’s so far to the bottom, she thought as she stared down the long, white stretch. The ponies down there look like little specks.
“Come on,” Rainbow Dash said with a groan. “You’ve been standing here for fifteen minutes. Pinkie’s probably on her way back up by now.”
“Don’t rush me,” Twilight replied. “These things require patience and careful planning.”
“There’s a difference between careful and paranoid, you know.”
Twilight sent the pegasus a scowl as she tried to clear her head. You can do this, she thought. Take it slow, just like the other hill. She carefully leaned forward and felt the board begin to tip beneath her. Just as before, the board began to pick up speed, only this time, it didn’t stop. “Rainbow Dash! Help! How do I slow down?”
“Turn the board sideways!” Dash yelled. Twilight tried to twist her body to make the board turn, and the next thing she knew, she was lying face-down in the snow. “Well, that wasn’t too bad,” Dash said as Twilight extracted herself from the hill. “You leaned a little too far forward that time.”
“I noticed,” Twilight said dryly.
“Woo-hoo! Way to go, Twilight!” Pinkie screamed as she flew past. “See you at the bottom!”
“In about a year,” Twilight muttered.
“Don’t be so hard on yourself,” Dash said, putting a comforting hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “Snowboarding takes practice. It’s kind of like flying.”
“Once again, that analogy doesn’t help,” Twilight said with a sigh.
“Here, let me help you up,” said Rainbow Dash. The pegasus got the unicorn back on her hooves and held her in place so she wouldn’t slide away. “Try it again, and this time, don’t lean too far forward.”
Twilight nodded and let go of Dash’s hoof. The board began to slide almost immediately, and for a moment, she almost fell down in a panic. Focus, she thought as she tried to maintain her balance. She made a slow turn and managed to reduce her speed a little without falling over. “Dash! I did it!”
“Great job!” Dash yelled as she followed her friend from above. “Keep going!” Twilight made a few more turns, growing more comfortable with the board each time. “That’s great!”
Twilight smiled, feeling a sense of pride in her progress. Though her heart was still pounding, she now felt more excitement than fear. “Hey! Race you to the bottom!” she yelled to her friend on a whim.
“Oh, you’re on!” Dash yelled back. Twilight’s eyes narrowed as she picked up speed, keeping pace with the pegasus above her. Her world became little more than a white blur punctuated with glimpses of slower travelers, and her turns kicked up almost as much powder as Pinkie’s. Is this really what it feels like to fly? she wondered. She’d never really thought about what flying might be like, but as her mane whipped around her face, she couldn’t help but feel a little envious for all the fun pegasi must have had.
“Twilight! Look out!”
Dash’s voice snapped Twilight’s attention back to the hill. To her surprise, she had already reached the bottom, and she was headed straight for two fillies, one yellow and one orange, who were busily building a ramp. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo heard Dash’s warning as well and dove out of the way before they could fall victim to Twilight’s out-of-control snowboard. The lavender mare hit their ramp at full speed, and a few seconds later, she slammed into the side of the ski shack and fell into the snow, her vision filled with dancing stars.
Twilight only had two coherent thoughts from the time she hit the ramp to the time she hit the shack. The first was that she should scream at the top of her lungs, which did little to improve her situation. The second, though equally useless, at least offered her a bit of insight into Rainbow Dash’s advice. I don’t care what you say. Snowboarding is definitely NOT like flying.