There is nothing in this world quite so amazing at the first snowfall of winter. The first few snowflakes falling from the sky, signifying a great change. The time for the animals to rest. The animals to dream. And the ponies of Equestria to relax and play, knowing another year has successfully reached its eve.
Holiday celebrations. Peaceful nights of rest. Brisk laughter in the day. All brought forth by a single powdery flake.
Some might scoff at the idea that something so small has such power. But they are the ones who have forgotten how the snowflake came to be.
But not me. I know the power of a single snowflake better than anypony else. And, just as that single snowflake holds such power, I also know the power of a single young pony. All that pony needs is a wish and a little help.
My name is Frostnight. I'm sure you've never heard of me. Nopony has. Well, except for one pony.
I'm not a pony. I'm not a changeling, a dragon, or any other kind of creature you've ever heard about. I'm not a creature at all really. Perhaps I should explain.
I have the basic shape of a pony. four legs, a mane, and a tail. But I don't have hooves exactly. I have five long, thin digits at the end of my legs, though when I curl them together, they form a seamless hoof. This goes for my hind legs too. I also don't walk on all fours all the time. I can do it, but I'm most comfortable on my hind legs, walking like a biped. My mane is stark white, with a single ice blue streak and is a tangled, windswept mess. Mt tail is much the same, though it's very short so it doesn't get in the way when I walk biped.
I also don't have a cutie mark. Like I said, I'm not actually a pony, so I don't get one. Though I do have one of a sort. But I'll get to that later.
My earliest memory is of being a windigo. Yeah, one of those windigo, the ones from the Hearth-warming Eve story. I don't really have a memory from being a windigo, since windigo don't actually think. But I do remember changing from a windigo into whatever I am now. Somehow the magic of that night so long ago didn't banish me as it did the others, but changed me into something new.
I was suddenly aware of myself in a way that I never had been before. I could think, and I could feel things that no windigo has ever felt. And I could tell how my brothers and I had hurt the world with our blizzards. I felt remorse for this, and wanted to apologize.
That's when I found out the curse of my new life. As a windigo, I had been an ethereal wild horse, but I could be seen. Now, though... Now I was invisible. No, worse than invisible, I was incorporeal. Not only could they not see m, they couldn't hear me and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't touch them. I was worse than a ghost.
It took me a long time to realize that I was now connected to the land in a way. When the weather was warm and sunny, I was severely weakened and tired. I slept for days, sometimes weeks at a time. I was separate from the world, and had no power to affect it.
But, when the weather was cold, and the clouds filled with snow, I came alive. I was full of energy and spirit. I could ride the wind and jump from cloud to cloud. I could whistle up wind and snow, making it blow and fly all over the place. I was having the time of my life!
But, as you may expect, the ponies didn't enjoy my winter. To them, it was just a cold, dark time of year when frozen dots fell from the sky and got in the way. There was no such thing as snowflakes back then. Snow was all the same, just a bunch of frozen balls of water falling from the sky. I called them snowdrops. After all, you call balls of rain raindrops right? Sometimes, they even came down hard enough to leave bruises.
As I had my fun in the snow, all I ever heard from the ponies was how they hated my winter, and how they wished it would just end. Ponies did nothing but complain, and it did nothing to improve my mood. I grew to hate my time with the ponies and tried my best to stay away from them. But, somehow I always ended up coming back to one town or another. I actually couldn't help it. It was like I needed to be near the little ponies.
Eventually, I just came to except that I was doomed to an eternity of everypony hating my winter. And it mad me mad. After a while, I started to use the winter snow to make the ponies as miserable as they made me. Soon I was blanketing the world in snow and freezing ponies to the bone with the icy winds I could call.
By far, my favorite ponies to mess with were the pegasi who always took my winter away from me. I spent a good amount of time in Cloudsdale making ponies freeze. I became more like the windigo I once was, enjoying seeing the ponies angry and cold. In those days, I called myself Frostbite, since it was one of my favorite winter weapons.
But, not even I can stay mad all day. And sometimes I would float through the town, watching the ponies live their lives. Sometimes I saw things that made me feel sorry for all the things I did to the ponies. I would wander into their homes and see the little fillies and colts having fun. It was one of the few times I would feel happy, even knowing that they could never see me.
It was on one such day, 2 days before the end of winter, that I wandered into the Cloudsdale school. I usually enjoyed watching the class, as learning things about Equestria interested me. But this was not one of those days that I would enjoy. Today, they were talking about the end of winter.
*****
The yellow coated teacher was speaking to her class. "The eve following the spring sunrise, the rain pegasi will bring forth the snow melting rains from the south. Can anypony tell me the southern nation that allows Equestria to collect their warm-front cloud system?"
She called on a young grey pegasus, who stammered out something that wasn't really an answer. I wasn't really listening, as I was starting to get angry.
Then a purple coated, blonde filly spoke up. "Where ever it is, they need to hurry up and go get the front. It's freezing."
I was getting even angrier. Everypony always said that. Didn't they know that winter was important? That it had its own good qualities to give?
The teacher was talking again. "They couldn't produce the rain yet, even if they were back with the weather system. The land still neds time to rest. That's the only reason we create winter. To help rejuvenate the soil for the earth ponies below."
"Well I'm sick of waiting," said the blonde filly.
I was practically fuming now. I brought winter every year, and every year I tried to make it better. I made the snow fall smaller so it wouldn't hurt anyone. I made the wind blow strongest only when everypony was indoors. Winter was an important time of year, and it was the only time when I could have the closest thing to interaction with others I was capable of. This was exactly why I always made it a horrible experience by the end of winter.
I could feel the wind and snow outside start to blow harder. I was getting mad and a huge blizzard was coming because of it. Then the teacher asked about everyone making stuff for the princesses to celebrate the end of winter. I heard all their excited voices and would have put my hoof through the window if I could have touched it. They always got so excited when my winter was coming to a close.
"Snowdrop?" I turned when I heard the teacher call out to a small filly sitting at her desk. I actually kind of liked this little pony, mostly because she had the same coloring as me. Light, powdery blue fur with a stark white mane and tail, each with an ice blue stripe. Well, maybe not liked, but I made an effort not to be too hard on her. After all, she was sightless pegasus living in a city in the clouds. I do have a heart, even if it's a cold one. "How is your project coming?"
"My.... Uh... My project?" She was such a quit little thing. As soft spoken as a snowdrop falling from the sky.
"Yes. Are you and your partner ready to present?"
"My partner?" Her sightless eyes were shifting around, unconsciously not wanting to make eye contact with the teacher. I had already noticed that nopony else was chatting to the little blue filly the way the rest of the class was.
"Do you not have a partner still? Snowdrop, this isn't just a small school project. This is the one hundredth Spring Sunrise under the princesses' rule. They've honored us with the opportunity to show what Cloudsdale's future can create to invigorate the seasons. Have you even begun your work?"
Invigorate the seasons huh? Winter was a season. One so important that they had to keep it around despite hating it. But they never tried to make my winter any better! They never made school projects about winter! I was growing angry again. Then I heard the rest of the classroom star whispering. All of them complaining about how Ms. Windth was going to put Snowdrop in their group. And how they had had to put up with her last time. About how she couldn't make anything when she couldn't see ing front of her own face.
This was one of those rare times when I got angry for someone else. Just because she was different, they wanted nothing to do with her. They thought she was just some helpless little thing.
The wind and snow picked up outside. It was a proper blizzard now. The snow was coming down so hard that snow was starting to bury the streets.
"Of... course I've started!" I was surprised to hear a note of happiness in the snowy filly's voice. "I've actually been working on something for a while now. By myself... because it's a... a surprise!"
I almost felt my heart break. Even this adorable little pony, who had a name and face that suited my winter perfectly, was looking forward to the end of it! She had been working on something all by herself to make something to show off to the princesses. I jumped out through the wall, letting the wind grab me and take me away. I didn't care where it sent me, as long as it was far away from all those ungrateful ponies!
*****
Hours later, after my rage had subsided and I let the snow stop falling, I went back to Cloudsdale. I had finally calmed down enough to make myself go back. It was late now, and the stars and moon were hidden behind all the thick clouds. I wandered around the city, walking silently along, letting the wind blow me along whenever it felt like it.
It was in this manner that I finally found myself near a small house, on its own little cloud. What caught my eye was the fact that there was a much smaller cloud, barely big enough to fit two full grown ponies, which was tied to the larger one by a length of rope. At first, I thought that it was empty.
"I can't go to the Spring Sunrise. I just can't."
I was about to pass by the cloud when I heard this. I instantly turned back and noticed that the young filly from before, Snowdrop, was laying on the cloud. She was hard to spot, being almost the exact same color as the fluffy mass of white.
The breeze stopped and I hopped from the house's roof to the small cloud below.
"A useless foal like me could never make anything for spring. The princesses would just laugh at me, and"
I couldn't let her go on. I swept my hand through a passing snowdrop and let it fall on her nose. It made her pause to shake it off. I couldn't stand to hear her talk like that. Just because she was different and had trouble with some things wasn't a reason for her to talk bad about herself. She was at least better off than I was.
I reached out and went to stroke her head, my digits uncurling for some unconscious reason. I knew I couldn't touch her any more than I could anypony else. I stopped just short of her head, sighing to myself. I didn't know why I even pretended anymore.
Then she lifted her head to look up at the sky, her sightless eyes searching for something she could never see. Her head lifted right into my hand, and suddenly my world imploded.