//------------------------------// // Chapter the Sixth: Pink Snow Hunter // Story: Sheer Cold // by James Rednok //------------------------------// Scootaloo plopped softly down into the snow. 'Not again...' she thought dejectedly. The previous night had brought with it a harsh blizzard; smothering all of Ponyville in a blanket of snow almost three feet deep. This of course, rendered her usual mode of transportation, a small orange scooter, completely useless. In an effort to meet her friends at the park faster, she had attempted to propel herself above the rooftops with her wings; 'Just like Rainbow Dash!' she had thought in the few moments that her underdeveloped wings had managed to keep her aloft. This third time that she fell made her realize that she was losing more time than she could possibly be gaining. Hurrying along, she skidded on a few patches of compacted snow as she came into sight of Ponyville's park. She could just make her friends out near the center of the public place; evidently entangled in some argument. Scootaloo smirked as she realized how uncannily this made them look like their older sisters. "Nu-unh!" Apple Bloom was saying. "Yuhn-hunh!" came an immediate reply from Sweetie Belle. So this went on until Scootaloo got close enough to be noticed. "Oh, hah Sootaloo!" said Apple Bloom cheerfully; her usual southern twang adding an aspect of adorableness to her already cute voice. Sweetie Belle smiled her greeting at the pegasus as well. "What were you too arguing about?" the little pegasus asked. "Oh nothing," replied Sweetie Belle. "I was just saying that maybe we could get our cutie marks in matchmaking! My sister's always bragging about fixed up all kinds of ponies back in her school days; and I figured we could give it a shot!" "And Ah sayd," the red-maned earth pony interjected, pushing her unicorn companion away with a hoof to the face, "Thayt thayt wus a stupid ideyah!" "It is not!" contradicted the pearl-coated unicorn. "The way Rarity described it, it's the easiest thing in the world!" "Is nawt!" "Is so!" "Is nawt!" "Is too!" "Nu-unh!" "Yuhn-hunh!" And so the argument started off where it had left off. "Enough!" shouted Scootaloo before the rough escalated much further. She tapped a hoof too her chin as she thought and her friends quieted down. "Hmmm... I've got it!" she suddenly exclaimed. "How about this, if we can get two ponies to fall in love in time Hearts and Hoofs day, then you have to buy Sweetie Belle a treat from Sugar Cube Corner. Sweetie Belle, the same goes for you; but if we can't you have to buy Apple Bloom a treat." "Hmmm ... that sounds fair." mused Sweetie Belle, turning to her friend. " I heard Pinkie Pie's come up with some sort of new pastry, I'd love to try that out when I win." "Ha!" replied Apple Bloom with a smirk, "Yuu meen when Ah win?" "Nu-unh!" "Yuhn-hunh!" "Girls! Girls!" cried out Scootaloo. "Ah guess thaht sounds raght n' fayer. Buht how will we deciyed who tuh mayke fawl in luve?" "Yeah!" Agreed Sweetie Belle, "We need an 'impartial third party'." the swirly-maned unicorn said, struggling to get the somewhat unfamiliar phrase out. "I'll do it!" volunteered Scootaloo excitedly. "Hmmm..." She thought hard about the two ponies she would pick, allowing her eyes to glaze over. When she returned her attention to her vision, her gaze had fallen onto Sweet Apple Acres. "Big Mac..." she let out slowly, earning a gasp from Apple Bloom at the inclusion of her older brother and a laugh and pointed hoof from Sweetie Belle. "annnnnd..." she went on, once again allowing her focus to slip. She turned her body slightly and let vision fall upon again upon an unspecified building. Allowing her eyes to settle, she realized she was looking towards the Ponyville Schoolhouse. "... Miss Cheerilee." This time, all three of them gasped; Scootaloo included. Her decision was rather absent minded so it surprised even herself. "Mah bruther!?" cried Apple Bloom. "Our teacher!?" cried Apple Bloom. The trio sat and pondered for a moment before allowing their faces to erupt simultaneously into equally devilish grins. "Yeah, I could see that" "Miss Cheerilee aynd Big Mac!" snickered Apple Bloom, her large pink bow wavering slightly with the motion. " Mah bruthur could use a nice fillyfriend. We could do it..." "See!" bragged Sweetie Belle, "It's sweet to think of giving two ponies love. But if we're going to do this; what say we make it more interesting?" "Whudya sayin'?" asked Apple Bloom. "I'm saying let's up the stakes a bit. If I win; I want ... your bow." Apple Bloom gasped so dramatically, you'd have thought she saw a spectre. "Nawt mah bow!" She pleaded, grabbing an end of the bow in each of her fore-hoofs; as if to shield it. "But if you win!" continued the unicorn quickly, "You'll get ... this." Sweetie Belle pulled a hairbrush from within her boots. "Ooooh...." admired Apple Bloom. The Earth pony's eyes widened hugely as she studied the object before her. "It's very close to me," Sweetie Belle said as she passed the brush to Apple Bloom. "My parents gave it to me for my birthday two years ago. It's my only birthday they ever came to..." Sweetie Belle watched as her friends admired every inch of it. "It's carved from Timber Wolf hide," she went on, "and it's enchanted. Who ever uses it will be able to get their mane to be however they want it to look. I know your always saying that you'd like your mane to look just like Applejack's, but you can't get it just right; with this you'd just have to picture it perfectly and brush." Apple Bloom and Scootaloo both marveled at the little brush. Apple Bloom imagined brushing her mane so that it looked just like Applejack's. Scootaloo imagined brushing her mane to look just like Rainbow Dash's. Despite her best efforts, she had been unable to achieve the perfectly windswept appearance that Rainbow Dash's polychromatic mane did. "Alright! I'm in!" Scootaloo announced. "I'll bet my scooter!" Both Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell turned to her with a look of surprise. "Your ... scooter!?" "Sure; why not?" answered the pegasus. "It's not like I'll get my cutie mark in scooter-er-ing." She giggled a bit at the prospect. She knew that is was a cold fact of nature that her cutie mark just had to be somehow related to her idol Rainbow Dash. "I'll be in the middle; let's say that we can get them to get together but not stay together; then I'll win." "Ah don't know," Apple Bloom went on cautiously, still cradling her bow in her hoofs. "These ahre all really sentimental ahtems. For each uv us. Maybe we shouldn't." "Don't worry Apple Bloom!" said Sweetie Belle cheerfully. "I'm sure that Santa Claups will bring us all something just as nice on Clydsmas." "You can't argue with that logic." said Scootaloo matter-of-factly, gesturing a hoof in Sweetie Belles direction for emphasis. Apple Bloom thought for a moment before saying in a quiet but determined voice, "Alright, Ah'll do it." "Great!" Exclaimed the unicorn. "But you've got to actually try to make them fall for each other! You can't just half-flank it so that we fail." "Ah will! And thayt's an Apple Family promise!" She spat in her hoof and extended it toward Sweetie Belle; who returned the gesture, meeting Apple Bloom's hoof with an audible *clunk*. "Miss Cheerilee aynd Big Mac!" Chortled Apple Bloom at the very idea. "Thayt's about ahs lahkley as Raynbow Dahsh readin' uh book!" "Or Pinkie Pie not being able to make a friend!" The two friends giggled as they attempted to break the posture. However their hoofs had frozen together in the bitter chill. The duo shrieked shrilly as Scootaloo fell on her back laughing hysterically. The screaming two shot their friend a dirty look before plopping a large pile of snow onto her form. "Why you..." She started angrily as her two friends trotted away in a sort-of impromptu seven-legged race; their shrieks now replaced with giddy and slightly maniacal laughs. Not for long though, as the two forgot that they could now longer run separately, and attempted to run on either side of a tree. Their connected hoofs swinging the pair's heads into each other's with a sound imitating two coconuts being bashed together. Scootaloo pounced ferally into the mangled mess of knots that was the earth pony's and unicorn's bodies. The three rolled about in the snow for a few seconds before they sprang up and took off; their direction unimportant: off on another random adventure. Meanwhile, a pair of blue eyes watched the escapade from within a frosted shrub. Their owner breathed heavily as the eyes watched the Cutie Mark Crusaders disappear behind a building to plan their latest crusade, then allowed them to slide slowly back to the landscape before them. They scanned the Ponyville park with a very specific target they were searching for. An blue earth pony with a grey swirly mane trotted by. Nope. A unicorn with a yellow coat and a deep blue mane galloped by on the fair side on some urgent errand. Nope. A grey-coated pegasus flew awkwardly by overhead. Not it. The predator's heavy breathing paused for a moment as it noticed a black-shrouded figure suddenly emerge from a side street. The figure approached the bush where the concealed eyes observed it from. 'Just a bit closer...' their owner thought as the figure drew nearer. 'And here we ... go!' As the figure passed by the push, what sounded like the roaring of a cheetah could be heard as the bush's inhabitant suddenly ponced upon it's prey. "Ahh! Ohh What are you... Ooh!" Squealed the figure shrilly. The two rolled in the snow as the momentum of the impact wore off. "Wait! Why are you ... Pinkie Pie!?" "Rarity!? Rarity!" exclaimed the pink earth pony leaping off her unicorn friend as her hood fell off. "Hi Rarity!" the baker cried, waving an excited hoof less than an inch in front of the fashionista's face. "What are you doing out here!? This cold can't be good for your cold! Unless you were only pretending to have a cold so that you didn't have to tell FlutterShy that Opal's sick; is that what's going on? Huh? Huh!? HUH!?" the earth pony practically shouted as she tilted her head to either side and moved her face closer to Rarity's with every 'Huh?'. "Pinkie Pie! Please! Lower your voice a bit! By Celestia, Do you want everypony to know my personal business?" Rarity asked indignantly, picking herself up and brushing herself off. "What are you doing out here? And hiding in the bushes like some prowler! Really!" "I was looking for somepony." Pinkie Pie answered. Her eyes narrowed suddenly as they swept from side to side and her voice took on a more menacing tone. "There's somepony new in town, I can feel it! And I'm not going to rest until I find them and invite them to my party." she said darkly. Her face returned to normal as quickly as it had changed, "But you still didn't answer my question; what are you doing out here!?." the earth pony asked as her eyes popped and elongated themselves, stretching out towards the unicorn. "For your information, I went to visit a friend yestereve and ended up spending the night." "OOOoooOOOhhh! I see." said Pinkie Pie with a smile that was a tad too all-too-understanding for Rarity's tastes. "Why, what ever do you mean, 'I see'?" Rarity asked hesitantly. Pinkie Pie raised her eyebrows and allowed her grin to become somewhat mischievous. "No." said the unicorn with a new-found sense of dread in the realization. "There's just no way that you or anypony could know." Pinkie Pies eyebrows lifted a bit higher. "Not that I have anything to hide..." Rarity continued quickly, prompting her earth pony companion to raise her eyebrows even further. "... or secrets of any kind..." Pinkie pie's eyebrows were now in danger of disappearing into her cotton candy-like mane. "... I ... just ... Oh promise me you won't tell anypony!" cried the unicorn, abandoning all attempts to lie to her friend. "Don't worry Rarity! Your secret's safe with me!" "Please don't tell anypony! Especially not ..." Rarity hesitated. "Spike?" "Errr ... yes; Spike. You promise?" "Mmm-hmmm" "Pinkie Pie Promise?" Pinkie Pie nodded silently and did the familiar motion of crossing her heart and shoving a non-existent cupcake into her eye. Rarity let out a sigh of relief. She was more than certain that Pinkie Pie could never break her namesake promise. Or if she did, the universe would most likely explode the moment she did. She continued on her way and Pinkie Pie bounced next to her for a bit. "Why don't you want FlutterShy to help Opal?" asked Pinkie Pie curiously. "Oh you know how overbearing FlutterShy can get." Rarity responded sadly. "I've been spending plenty of time with dear old Opal, making sure she's comfortable. She'll probably be upset with me for not coming home last night, and probably for even leaving in the first place!" "But Opal could be really sick! You wouldn't want anything to happen to her!" "Oh hush hush! Nothing ever has and nothing ever will." Rarity answered nonchalantly. "Okay Rarity, she's your cat..." said Pinkie Pie uneasily. "But that still begs the question," Rarity said, stopping and turning to her companion. how did you know all that about me?" Pinkie Pie smiled as she answered, "I know all." She then faded back into the bushes as a slight breeze blew. Rarity decided not to question the physics of it as she strode away with a bit more ease in her stomach. "'KAY BYE!" shouted a voice as a pink limb protruded from the bush and waved furiously. Rarity grinned and shook her head as she turned away and redoned her cloak's hood. 'Oh that Pinkie Pie!' anypony would have thought. Pinkie Pie however had already acquired a new target. Locking on, she once again pounced from the bushes, and snuck her way along as she homed in on what she assumed to be her original objective, emerging from the clock tower. She crawled her way to the top of a building like Spider-mare in the comic books, and peered over the roof towards her prey. Her query had stopped and was standing perfectly still in the center of the street. "B, C, C#, F, E..." thought Pinkie Pie as she prepared to pounce. She leaped from the building towards the figure. At the very last second, the figure snapped it's hooded face towards the pink pony. An infinite number of sounds and images suddenly filled the baker's brain; and just as quickly were gone. Pinkie Pie collided with the pony, knocking him over. "Gah!" his deep gravelly voice cried. "Un-hoof me you ruffian!" Pinkie Pie pulled an envelope from out of the ether and swung it in front of the monocled stranger's mustachioed nose.\ "HI! I'MPINKIEPIEANDI'MTHROWINGAPARTYTONIGHTANDEVERYPONY'SINVITEDANDYOUREVERYPONYSOYOUREINVITEDANDYOURALSONEWINTOWNSOYOU'VEJUSTGOTTOCOMESOTHATYOUCANMEETALLYOURBESTFRIENDSFOREVERTHATYOU'VEEVEREVERHADTHATYOUJUSTHAVN'TMETYET!!!" Pinkie Pie gasped in enough air to fill the vacuum that was her lungs before asking, "So you'll come!?" The stranger plucked the invitation from Pinkie Pie's mouth and opened it with his tongue. He studied the letter, then regarded the pony. Thinking deeply for a moment, he answered. "Indeed." "Okay! Great! Bye!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie as she did a back flip off the stranger and took off at mach four towards Sugar Cube Corner. The stranger watched her go in the direction of the confections store as he got up. "Hmm..." he pondered aloud as he readjusted his askew monocle, "Intriguing. What an odd little creature. Then again..." he continued as he proceeded on his way, "look who's talking." Forecast: Freezing. Good weather for parties and secrets.