//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Snowed Over // Story: The Life and Times of a Tea Pony // by FlutterChai //------------------------------// As I walked through the front door of my apartment, my thoughts grew heavy from seeing the dark and motionless room before me, without a peep of any critter or any pony. I tossed the set of keys into the bowl that was right beside the door and then flew over to the desk beside the window, looking out to the vast Los Pegasus skyline outside. The shining lights from each one of the buildings that sat on top of the clouds, with the signature Applewood sign that sat on top of the tallest mountain. It all seemed so different from Ponyville. So different from what I’ve been used to after this week that I’ve spent here away from my friends. Sighing, I clicked on the light at the desk and picked up the pencil to start writing a short letter. “To my very special somepony,” I said aloud, writing the words down on the paper. “I hope that you’re doing good and everything is alright with taking care of the animals. Hopefully Spike has not been slacking off too much for the amount of gems that I paid him, heehee! Anyways, I probably haven’t told you the whole story since everything started so quickly. Let me start from the beginning...” --- Waking up, I was expecting to find the clucking from the chicken coop outside of my window or the sweet melody of the songbirds as they chirped for their breakfast. Or even the impatient thumping of Angel Bunny on my bed, also hungry for his morning meal. Yet, as my eyes opened to the bright morning in my bedroom, the fire from last night burned out to ashes, there were no audible noises that I recognized. My heart stopped for a minute, thinking that something was wrong with the critters, sitting up in bed only to look at the calendar. “January 2nd.” I thought to myself, sighing in relief that the silence was only because every animal was hibernating for the winter. Taking in more of the silence, a faint sound was heard from outside. It sounded like... laughter? I rushed to the front door, only to meet the white blanket of snow, one patch happened to fall on top of me from the doorway, instantly turning me into a snowpony in front of the cottage. The laughing moved over to the front fence, which came from the filly trio of Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. As cold as I was, I didn’t seem bothered to move from the snowy statue. “Hey look! Fluttershy made a snowpony in front of her cottage!” the red-maned filly shouted, going in through the door in the fence. “Oh wow! It looks so much like her!” the orange filly commented, tilting her head in front of me. “I tried making a snowpony of my sister once! She said it looked like a pile of slush.” the white filly added, moving to the back of my snowy figure. “Well, you did pour a giant cup of purple ice on it’s head.” Scootaloo replied, quickly getting on top of me. “Whoa, this is really packed in!” I giggled from the snowy statue, hoping one of the fillies would hear me. “What was that?” Apple Bloom asked. “What was what?” the orange pegasus asked, moving to my head. I tried to stay as still as possible under the snow. “That noise. Didn’t y’all hear it?” “I didn’t hear anything.” Sweetie Belle said, smiling. I giggled again. “That! That giggle!” Apple Bloom announced, pointing a hoof at my face. “It’s coming from the snowpony!” “ROAR!” I yelled as loud as I could, shaking off the snow on my head. Scootaloo tumbled off in front of me, landing in between the two fillies, laughing. I giggled again, using my hoof to get the last of the ice out of my mane. “Fluttershy!” Apple Bloom said aloud with the three fillies giving me a hug. “What were you doing under all that snow?” “Yeah, were you there all night?” Scootaloo asked, kicking off some snow from her hoof. “No girls.” I replied, giggling at the question. “I came out to see what the noise was all about outside of my cottage and I got buried from the snow. Why are you all out and about? Don’t you have school?” “Nope!” Sweetie Belle chimed in. “We’re still on vacation!” “Which means we have more time to get our cutie marks!” Scootaloo added, jumping around. “Do you think you could help us, Fluttershy?” Apple Bloom asked with pleading puppy dog eyes. “Hmm, how about tomorrow?” I suggested with a smile. “Yeah!” the girls said all at once. “Do you have any ideas?” I asked, using my wings to lightly push the fillies out of the front yard so I could lock the gate. “How about... milkshakes?” Sweetie Belle suggested. “Milkshakes?” I repeated, thinking about who would want a frozen treat in the winter. “Yeah! Everypony loves milkshakes! Come on girls, lets get the ingredients for tomorrow!” Apple Bloom announced as the trio sped off. “Cutie Mark Milkshake Ponies YAY!” Scootaloo yelled as they ran off into the distance. I couldn’t help but smile and giggle at their enthusiasm. And maybe save a few bits for a milkshake tomorrow, in case no pony comes by for them. After a relaxing stroll through the snow covered Ponyville, I found myself standing in front of Carousel Boutique, which happened to be celebrating an expansive winter outfit sale for all the ponies. “Welcome to Carousel Boutique!” Rarity greeted, trotting happily over to the entrance. ‘Oh Fluttershy, heavens aren’t you cold without a scarf or something?” “Umm, it’s not that cold.” I said, brushing a bit of ice out of my yellow coat. This however didn’t stop the fashionista unicorn from using her magic to bring over one of her stunning pieces from the shop. “Please, darling, scarves are season.” she continued, carefully wrapping the soft, wool scarf around my neck. “Green is your color, after all.” “Thank you, Rarity.” I said quietly, using a hoof to feel the texture of the scarf, finding it to be incredibly soft. “Anytime, darling.” she said, in her usual posh accent. “So what can I do for you, Fluttershy?” “Oh, umm, nothing really.” I said softly, covering my face with my mane. The white unicorn’s eyes darted over at the comment. She pulled away her designer glasses, using a hoof to pull my chin up. “Is something the matter, dear?” Rarity asked with genuine concern in her eyes. “The animals.” I squeaked out. She smiled at the response. “You really must have some something else in your life, darling.” the unicorn began, using her magic to replace her glasses as she went to work on her dress. “For instance, how about a hobby?” I thought for a second, remembering a warm summer when I took all sorts of pictures in the fields around Ponyville. I even managed to get the perfect picture of a morning’s sunrise, with the help of Angel Bunny waking me up in time, of course. Although, my ears drooped at the fact that most of my pictures were of my critter friends, who are all still sleeping right now. “Did you hear me, Fluttershy?” Rarity repeated, using her magic to thread a needle with the most exclusive spool of golden thread. “Huh? Oh, no real hobbies other than... making tea.” I said, looking over at the dress in progress. “I have to tell you, darling, you’re not putting yourself out there enough!” she said with a sharp, yet friendly tone in mind. “Putting out?” I asked, confused at what she meant by that. I go outside, when it’s not too cold. Otherwise, I like staying by the fire by my bedside. “When was the last time you saw a pony outside of Ponyville?” Rarity asked, focusing her attention back on me. “Umm, a few nights back.” I replied, trying to remember the exact time. “Oh yes, this mysterious stallion of yours. What’s his name again?” I kept quiet, still not sure if I should tell her anything about him. He’s absolutely wonderful but at the same time, I don’t think anypony here would really approve of him. I heard that he knows about Twilight too, so it’s not like he’s invisible. Rarity sighs at the silence, breaking my concentration. “One day, you are going to tell me about this ‘somepony’ of yours. Until then, I am going to think that he’s just somepony you made up.” “He’s real!” I yelled in my soft voice, only manage to catch Rarity’s attention. “I mean... Twilight knows him too.” “Oh?” she said, her eyes widening. “Well, now I’m convinced you’ve fallen for a character in one of those books of hers.” “Umm...” I stuttered, not sure what else to say. “Anyways, Dashing Dare aside, do you remember that video that you made for me a few years back?” Rarity asked, going back to the elegant dress. “You mean the one that I did describing myself?” “That’s the one.” she said, using her magic to bring a bundle of feathers over to the dress. “It hasn’t gotten a single hit on it, darling.” “Hit?” I asked, confused at what Rarity was talking about. “No pony has wanted to watch it.” “Why would anypony want to watch it?” “Because...” Rarity began, taking a long sigh. “I put it up on the EeyupLovestruck website.” “You... did... what?!” I asked wildly, beyond embarrassed at what pony might have watched that video. “You need to get out of that cottage of yours! See the rest of Equestria! Fall madly in love with the pony of your life!” she replied, falling back on the mannequin pony in the dress. “But-” “Invisible someponies do not count, Fluttershy.” “But-” “Yes, darling?” Rarity asked, batting her eyelashes as she smiled. Between being completely embarrassed about what she had done and being outraged at her tricking me like that to make a video for the Internet, all I could do is what I usually do. I sighed and said, “It’s nothing.” “Look,” she began, wrapping one of her hooves around my scarf-covered neck. “I know what I did was little out of hoof. But at the same time, no pony has watched it.” “Why would that make me feel better?” I said quietly, noting the fact that no pony wanted to see me. “Well, it’s not too late!” Rarity declared triumphantly. “You need something to make yourself desirable!” Before I knew it, she had already used her magic to bring over her diamond-encrusted laptop computer, surfing up to my profile page on the website. “The picture is adorable, if I do say so myself.” she commented on one of the many photos that I took for Photo Finish last spring. “Let’s see. Good with animals, that translates well for foals. Sweet and shy, uh-huh, uh-huh. AH-HA!” Rarity’s eyes sparkled with an idea as she pointed a hoof to one of the boxes on the web page. I looked over as read the contents. “Occupation: None.” “That is what you need to change, darling!” she said, using her magic to close the laptop. “You need to get some sort of job. To get your mind off of those animals of yours. And, it will help you look like something more than a sweet pony that drinks tea all day in her cottage.” “But... that is all that I do, mostly. During the winter months at least.” “Well, maybe you should look for a different place to make tea or something. One where you can meet ponies. In the meantime, I’ll be sprucing up your profile page for the new year!” “Umm, maybe I should-” I began, moving next to Rarity to see what changes she might do. “No no, no need to bother yourself with these details, dear. I’ll take care of it.” she insisted, pushing me out of the front door with her magic. “Take care, Fluttershy!” --- “And that’s where this dream sort of came from.” I continued, writing back in my Los Pegasus apartment. “Sure Rarity went behind my back to make me one of those silly online profiles. I went on the computer at the library to look at her changes and... they sort of stretches the truth but at least she got the job right when I told her a few days afterwards. It managed to get a few visits, I guess, but I don’t actually have access the page myself so Rarity is the one to tell me if anypony is interested.” Looking at the clock, I noticed it was well past the time when everypony was supposed to be asleep. “It’s not like I’m waiting for anypony to want to meet me anyways. I’ve met a few nice ponies after that one morning. And besides, I have you. You’re the most special somepony I could ever ask for and I miss you every day. I hope that when I come back, you do really want to move in with me. <3 Forever yours, FlutterChai.” Sighing happily at the thought of wrapping my hooves around him, I quickly folded the letter and sealed it up in an envelope, addressing to my very special somepony. Barely able to keep my eyes open, I flew up into my bed and softly drifted off to sleep.