Tears of Snow

by FlashKenshin77

I - I've Just Seen A Face

Winter was in full bloom in Cloudsdale, snow blanketing the city. At least a foot and a half covered the floating city, the clouds thick and heavy. The sun was high in the sky, peeking through the snow clouds. The pegasi, like the unicorns and earth ponies below, were preparing for the worst. Unfortunately, even with the blizzard approaching, school was in full swing. Fillies and colts buzzed around, playing in the snow. Yet as they played happily, I sat off to the side, waiting for school to start.
We had just moved from Manehattan into a two roomed apartment on the second floor of the Cozy Apartments, run by a nice elderly mare named Mist Dancer. My dad thought my ‘condition’ would lead to some problems there.
The bell rang as all the fillies and colts filed into the school building, bumping into me as they walked by. A few whispered to their friends, glancing at me as they passed. I sighed and lowered my head. Staring at the snowy ground, I slowly made my way into the classroom.
The room looked huge, windows lined the entire right wall. Underneath them, shelves held books, crayons, paper, rulers, pencils. It looked like somepony cleaned them daily as not a speck of dust could be found on the shelves. There were forty desks in the classroom, plus the teacher’s desk right next to the window. The teacher’s desk was neat, not a stray piece of paper or pencil. She had a cup that held a few pens and pencils, and a eraser next to it. On the very center of her desk, facing the students, sat a small little nameplate, with ‘Mrs. Windith’, written in cursive. Eight columns of five desks, each spaced the same distance, with a bit of room between the chalkboard and the first row. The chalkboard itself took up the entire front of the class with a tray holding several pieces of chalk and an eraser hiding underneath.
I stood at the front of the class, my face getting hot as everypony’s eyes were on me. They all stared at me as the teacher, Mrs. Windith, got up from her desk, smiling as she walked up to me.
Somewhere around her middle ages, she had a light tan coat, her mane and tail gray. Yet past her thin gray glasses, bright green eyes still showed warmth for her students. She paused. “Well class, as I’m sure you're all aware, we have a new student.” She paused to look at me. “Would you kindly introduce yourself?”
I gulped, my face turning red as I stared at the floor. “W-well, my name is Icy Mist and I moved here from Manehattan and-”
“Why are you wearing an eyepatch?”
Mrs. Windith looked at the pony that talked. “Cumulo.” She said, silencing the pony. “Please, continue Icy.” She urged me.
I nodded. “W-well, that. I had um... a sickness that made me wear this eye patch...”
The fillies and colts stared at me before they laughed, smiling at me. “He’s just like that character from that book!” A colt yelled from the back. Mrs. Windith went to yell at him before the chant ‘Patchy’ rose throughout the class.
My lower lip quivered as Mrs. Windith slammed her hoof down. “That’s enough! You should all be ashamed of yourselves, making fun of this poor colt.” She looked at me. “Thank you Icy, please take a seat anywhere you want.” She said with a smile.
I nodded, sighing as I sat next to a colt as Mrs. Windith cleared her throat. “Alright class, open your history book to page one hundred and forty five.” Her eyes darted at me. “Icy, since you don’t have your school book yet, you can share with a classmate.”
The colt next to me scooted closer and pushed his book so it was on top of our desks. As the lesson on Camelu and their weather patterns began, the colt leaned towards me. “Is it true?” He whispered.
I looked at him. “Is what?”
“That you can’t see with that eye?”
I nodded.
“I’m sorry to hear that. My uncle lost his eyes to some disease himself.” He said, holding his hoof out. “My name is Cirrus.”
“Icy.” I said, shaking it.
Class dragged on as I read the book, amazed that textbooks could be so clean looking. Back in Manehattan, the only books I saw were the hand me downs in the public library. I sighed as I squinted at the book, still trying to read.
The bell interrupted her and all the colts and fillies rushed out of the classroom, yelling “RECESS!!” As the wave of students filed out of the classroom, Ms. Windith let out a sigh. Shaking her head she sat down at her desk, opened a book and began reading. As I slowly got up, I noticed another filly was still here, sitting in the second row, fiddling with something on her desk. I paused and watched for a moment, confused as to why she hadn’t left yet. Her coat was a light powder blue, glistening like soft snow. Her mane and tail were the color of snow. She blinked a few times, lightly shaking her head as her eyes sparkled in the sunlight. They were a dull powder blue as well.
I went over to her and her ears twitched at the noise. “Aren’t you going out for recess?” I asked.
“Oh... um... no, I like staying in here.” She said quietly. As she sat there, her front hooves constantly mashed and rolled at a cloud piece. I stared at her for a few seconds until she noticed I was still there. Her cheeks turned red. “Umm...”
“I was just wondering what you were making?” I asked.
“A cloud flower.” She said happily, still working at the cloud.
“A cloud flower?”
She nodded. “Whenever I would get sad, my mommy would go outside and grab a piece of a cloud and sculpt it into any flower that I want. She told me how to do it, but I just can’t seem to get it right.” She said, her eyebrows furrowed in concentration.
“Here, let me help.” I said. Hesitantly, I grabbed her hooves and helped her mold the cloud just the right way. Her face took on a healthy shade of red as we worked together, the cloud slowly taking on the shape of a snowdrop flower. Finally a few minutes later, we smiled at each other. “I think we got it.”
She gently felt the cloud, her smile getting bigger as her hooves danced over the petals. “Yeah, I think you're right.” She said, holding up the flower.
“That’s a good job, both of you.” Somepony said behind us. We jumped and looked up at Mrs. Windith, a smile on her face. “Is that a snowdrop flower?” She asked.
The filly blushed and nodded. “My mommy only told me how to make this one.”
“Well that’s a very good job Snowdrop, I think your mother will love it.”
Snowdrop smiled. “I can’t wait to show her. And thank you Icy for helping me.”
I smiled back at her. “I’m glad I could be of some help to somepony.”
She tilted her head, confused at me. Right then the bell rang and all the fillies and colts piled back in the room. Snowdrop quickly put the cloud flower into her saddlebag as I made my way over to my desk. I felt a pair of eyes bearing down on me. I turned around and saw Cirrus looking at me oddly as I sat down.
“Alright class, settle down. Now I was thinking we do a little group activity, so Icy can get to know more of you. Split into groups of two and I want you to describe your partner as best as you can.”
At once everypony split into groups. I scooted closer to Cirrus, both of us taking out our notebooks. I noticed Snowdrop’s ears were down and she looked sadly at her desk, everypony avoiding her.
“Hey Snowdrop, you can join our group,” I said. Her head whirled towards my voice.
Cirrus looked at me angrily as Snowdrop carefully made her way over next to me. “Thank you again.” She whispered.
“No problem.”
“But how is she gonna help us? She’s blind.” Cirrus asked.
I stared at him, my mouth open. I turned to look at her again, but she kept staring at the desk. I realized now why she never seemed to look at me, she couldn’t. And I thought I had it bad, at least I can see... I looked back at Cirrus, my words stuck in my throat. I paused and took a deep breath. “D-does it matter? I’ll help her.” I stuttered.
He rolled his eyes. “Pssh, should’ve seen that coming.”
“What does that mean?”
“Come on think about it: she’s blind, and you only have one eye.”
“And that means?” I glared.
He leaned close to me, hoof up to my ear. “Look, I know you're new here and don’t know any better, but Snowdrop is a klutz. She’s messes up everything! If you let her join our group, she’ll only bring us down.” He paused to glance at her. “There is a reason that she eats alone, you know. You can at least see and keep up with other ponies. So I say try to avoid her at all costs.”
Before I could respond, Mrs. Windith came over to us. “Is there a problem?”
“Cirrus-”
“Actually I was wondering if I could work alone?” Snowdrop said. “I mean, its not like I could describe anypony anyway.” A sad smile grew on her face.
“Are you sure?” Mrs. Windith asked.
“I’m sure...”
“But it’s really not that big of a deal...” I tried to reason with her.
Cirrus looked at us before quickly getting up. “Fine, I’ll go work with Windy, if that’ll make things easier.” He said and went over to a lone colt in the back.
Mrs.Windith looked at us before she walked through the rest of the students. Snowdrop looked at me sadly. “Are you sure you want me as your partner? I always screw everything up...”
“Don’t worry. If we screw up, we’ll screw up together.” I reassured her. “Besides, so what if you can’t see? I can’t see real well either. But if we work together, maybe we might be able to.”
She smiled, her eyes glistening. “Thank you Icy...”
“Come on, let’s get started. I’ll describe myself so you can write it down.” She nodded and grabbed her pencil. I cleared my throat.
“Well, I have dark blue fur and my mane and tail are a shade darker blue than my fur. I don’t have a cutie mark yet so I can’t tell you that.” She giggled. “And my eyes are... um... what did my dad say? Emerald, I think...” I paused as I tried to remember. “Well, at least my left one. I don’t know about my right.”
“Is that where you’re blind?” She asked.
“Yep, that’s why I wear this eyepatch.”
“Ha-have you ever forgotten to wear your eyepatch?” She asked hesitantly.
“Yeah...” I said.
“Is-is it bad?”
I stared at the floor, nervously tapping my hoof against it. “Yeah... my dad threw the bottle towards the trash can and I didn’t see it. It hit and cut my eye. But he didn’t mean too! It was an accident. I-I was just at the wrong place at the wrong time.”
She was silent, stunned.
“I still have a scar...”
She looked at me horrified. “I’m-I’m so sorry... Did you tell anypony?”
“No, they’d think he did it on purpose... it was just an accident.”
“What about your mom?”
“She left when I was real little.”
She looked like she was going to cry. “I’m so, so sorry!” She said.
I shrugged. “It’s okay, I guess... anyway, what about you? Can you describe yourself?”
She blinked, surprised at the sudden change in topic. “Me?” She asked, her face reddening. “Well I can only say what my mom told me when I asked her.”
“That’ll work. Okay, go ahead.” I said, readying my pencil.
“Well, my mother said I had a mane like a freshly fallen snow drift, and eyes that sparkled like the light of the sun on the ocean just as it is rising over the horizon. And my coat....” She paused, shifting in her seat.
Before she could continue, Mrs. Windith loudly cleared her throat. “All right, I think that’s enough time. Now, I’m going to call on a group one at a time and they’re going to stand up and tell the class what they talked about.” She scanned the students until her eyes finally rested on Cirrus. “Windy, Cirrus, why don’t you go first?”
The two colts sighed and stood up, going down a simple list that everypony could see. When they finished, another pair followed the pattern. Mrs. Windith repeated the procedure around the room in a clockwise motion until she finally stopped at Snowdrop and I. Before she could call on us, a loud bell rang. Everypony immediately rushed out of the room, heading towards the cafeteria.
“Okay, we’ll finish this after lunch.” She called to the fleeing ponies, the classroom empty once more. She shook her head before looking at us. “Aren’t you two going outside for lunch?”
“I.. um... brought my own...” Snowdrop said.
My face turned red. “I didn’t...” I whispered, embarrassed.
Snowdrop felt around in her saddlebag before pulling out a small brown bag. She opened it and grabbed a daisy sandwich wrapped in a small plastic bag along with an apple. Grabbing the sandwich, she looked in my direction. “Want some?”
“No, I’m okay...” My stomach loudly disagreed and I felt my face grow warm.
She hoofed me a half. “Here, take it.”
“No, I couldn’t.”
“Please, consider this a thank you for wanting to work with me...”
I paused and mumbled, grabbing the sandwich half before I thought against it. I took a bite. And then I quickly gobbled it up. “That was amazing...” I said happily.
She smiled. “My mom made it...”
“That was the best thing I’ve eaten in like two days.”
Snowdrop looked at me. “When was the last time you ate?”
I paused, thinking. “Um... Friday? No wait, Saturday. Dad brought home some peanuts from the bar.”
She opened and closed her mouth a few times in shock. “You're coming over for dinner.” She said flatly.
“But... Dad’ll be really mad if I don’t come home after school.”
She pouted. “But you haven’t eaten... and it doesn’t matter if I just met you, you’re my friend.”
I blinked a few times. “F-friend? What’s that?”
“You don’t know what a friend is?”
“Somepony that you want to spend time with or have fun with. Somepony who you can talk about anything with. And they share the good times and bad times with you.” Her cheeks got red. “Or so I’ve been told.”
“Well then the closest thing I had to a friend was this pony back in Manehattan that would share his lunch with me.”
She looked at me, her hooves searching for mine. Finally, she found them and grabbed them. “Well I consider you my friend. And if you want to come over for dinner, you're more than welcome too...”
I looked at her. “If you’re sure I won’t be a problem, then I’m sure I can talk to my dad and...”
Before I could finish, she squealed loudly. “Yay!”
Laughing, I said, “You're an odd filly.”
She stuck her tongue out in response. “And this is coming from a pirate.”
We looked at each other before bursting out laughing, holding our stomachs.
Mrs. Windith giggled at the two of us. “Oh you two.” She said, shaking her head.
Snowdrop let me have a few slices of the apple as well and soon, lunch was over. Fillies and colts returned back to their seats, each one giggling and shouting. Yet Cirrus ignored me as he sat down.
Mrs. Windith finally got them to settle down. “Okay class, I know you're all hyper, but it’s time to settle down so we can get back to work. Now I believe we have one more group that has to present.” She said, looking at me and Snowdrop. We gulped as we got up, standing in front of the class.
The class stared at us; it was quiet enough to hear a pin drop. I cleared my throat, everypony looking at me. We quickly ran through our list, Snowdrop asking me for help a few times. Then I said what I wrote down, causing Snowdrop to blush even harder as a few fillies giggled. We finished the report, standing awkwardly at the front of the class.
“Very good, you may take your seat.” Mrs. Windith said, turning around. The classroom erupted into whispers. I helped Snowdrop find her seat before sitting down, a few fillies looking at me as they talked quietly amongst themselves. I could feel their stares on the back of my head.
Mrs. Windith walked around the classroom, passing out paper and crayons. When she was finished, Mrs. Windith went back to her desk for some water. “I want you to think about something that makes you happy and then I want you to draw it. If you don’t finish it before class ends, just add that to your homework.”
Instantly everypony went quiet, all of them lost in deep thought. I stared blankly at the paper, trying to think of something. I begun to tap the pencil on the desk, my mind struggling to come up with something happy to draw. I looked over and saw that Snowdrop was drawing something and Cirrus was scribbling intensely, the tip of his tongue sticking out in concentration.
Suddenly an image popped into my mind and my hoof started drawing of its own accord. Quickly the outline slowly took the shape of a mare. I erased the outlines before I started coloring her with crayons. I grabbed the pink crayon, coloring in her spiky mane before mixing together red and orange for her coat. I paused, hunting for the purple so I could color in her eyes. Her eyes stared back at me vacantly as I drew her hooves, both of them outstretched to hug me. I smiled at the drawing before I looked over and saw Cirrus looking at me.
“Who’s that?” He asked.
“My mom, or at least what my Dad said she looked like.”
He looked sad. “What do you mean? Don’t you know your mom?”
I was silent, staring at my paper. I continued to draw.
“Oh... I’m... um... sorry.” He muttered awkwardly.
I shrugged. “It’s ok.”
“Who’s that, your babysitter?” A voice next to me asked sarcastically. I looked and saw it was a filly was a light violet coat with a braided blonde mane. Her purple eyes disdainfully gazed at my drawing.
I shook my head. “No, that’s my mom.”
She paused, staring at the drawing before looking at me. “No wonder why she left,” she said flatly, turning back to her own drawing.
I stared at her, confused. “W-what do you mean?”
“Oh its nothing Patchy, you’ll see. Eventually.” She said, happily ignoring me as she colored in her drawing.
I turned to look back at my drawing, trying to hold back tears.
“Cumulo, you don’t know that!” Cirrus said, surprised at his classmate.
“Well he clearly doesn’t know his mom, I mean look at him! Unless she’s blind like Klutz over there, she would’ve done something. I mean, it looks like he lives in the mud. Whoever his mom is doesn’t care for him, its so obvious! Just look at the eye patch. If she did, it wouldn’t be so dirty!” She said.
I looked at my drawing, memories of my dad yelling at me for wanting to know what my Mom was like. I sniffled, trying to stop any tears.
“Say you're sorry!”
“Why should I?”
“What’s going on over here?” Mrs. Windith walked over. I could feel the entire class looking at us.
“Cumulo said that Icy’s mom left because he’s a mess. And she doesn’t even know if she did or not!” Cirrus said.
I closed my eyes, forcing the memories to stop as tears trickled down my eyes. Mrs. Windith stared at the filly before she bent down and was level with me. She wrapped her hooves around me, resting my head on her shoulder. “Shh, it’s ok...”
My mind froze, unable to process what the teacher was doing. But my body didn’t. Instantly I struggled against her and, breaking free of her grip, charged out of the classroom. Tears were flowing down my face. I ignored the ponies that I passed on the streets, my mind trying to catch up to what happened. I couldn’t comprehend why she’d hug me so I ran, hoping that I could distract myself. I heard several voices follow me, but I ignored them, reaching the edge of the town. I saw a cloud floating alone, away from everything and I jumped towards it.
I sank into it, finally able to hear nothing, save the hiss of the wind. I cried, away from everypony’s eyes. It was always easier to run and hide, then deal with them. I laid there for who knows how long, the snow and cold wind my only companions. I sighed, wishing I could hide from everything, but knew I’d have to face it sometime.
“I-Icy?” A voice called out to me.
I looked up, Snowdrop standing on the edge of the city. “W-what are you doing here?”
She faintly smiled. “Well whenever I get sad, I’ll run away from everypony too.” She felt the edge of the cloud before jumping.
“Wait Snowdrop!” I said, only to pause as she landed gently on my cloud. I stared at her in amazement. “H-How did you do that?”
She looked at me, confused before walking back. “Even I can walk the little gap.” I looked at the cloud, and sure enough, the gap was only a few inches big. She walked up to me and sat down, looking in my direction. “So..." She started, looking at the cloud.
I looked at her, confused. “So what?”
“I-is it true what Cumulo said?”
“I... I don’t know.” I paused. “I couldn’t tell you about my mother, I never knew her... She’s been gone as long as I can remember.” I looked up at the sky, the clouds blocking most of the sunlight. “Sometimes, I’ll look at the night sky, hoping that something would give me a sign that she’s okay, or at least tell me where she was...”
Snowdrop was silent, staring at the sky. “Perhaps they are not the stars, but rather openings in heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy.That’s what my mom told me when my grandma died...” She blushed, nervously rubbed her forehooves together.
I stared at her dumbfounded for a moment before staring at the sky, the clouds blocking the sun. “For a while, my dad refused to tell me what happened to my mom... and when he finally did, I didn’t know what to think. It’s always been the two of us, me and Dad, just struggling to make ends meet.” I sighed. “I... just don’t know anymore.”
We were quiet for awhile, merely sitting next to each other. “It’s funny, I can still remember when I was picked on the first time. And I started to cry and I ran to the edge of town... I sat there for a long time, thinking about everything when Daddy found me. He didn’t say anything, merely hugged me. ‘Even the sad and painful memories shouldn’t be forgotten.’ He said. I’ve never understood it till now. No matter how much it hurts, its still makes you who are. And I’ll be here to keep reminding you.”
“But why? I’m not worth it...”
“You are Icy... you just can’t see how much you mean to ponies. Think of what would happen to your dad if you weren’t here? He’d be devastated...”
I looked at the cloud, staring into nothing. I suddenly felt a pair of hooves encase me and Snowdrop’s head briefly rested on my shoulder. As sudden as the hug was, it was over and she grabbed my hoof, pulling me up. “Come on, you still have to come over for dinner.” She said, her cheeks slightly red.
“But what about my school stuff?”
“Don’t worry, I took care of them.” She said, pointing to two saddlebags back by a street lamp.
“Thank you Snowdrop... for everything.”
She smiled. “That’s what friends are for, right?”
I chuckled as we hopped back onto the cloudy city. “Mrs. Windith is gonna be mad at me, isn’t she?”
“No, but she was furious at Cumulo and gave her detention. She said she’ll talk with you tomorrow.” Snowdrop said as we put our saddlebags on.
We walked silently next to each other as she lead me to her house. The wind kept hitting us, sending chills up my back. I looked at Snowdrop, who was also shivering. I picked up the pace, trying to block the wind off her. She looked at me and smiled as we continued on. I could almost feel the warmth that she emitted, even with everything that’s happened to her. Finally I couldn’t take the silence anymore. “Not to be rude or anything but why are you being so nice to me? Every time that’s happened is because they only wanted something in return.” I looked at her.
She paused, nodding her head after I finished speaking. “Because... I know what it's like.” She said quietly.
“What do you mean?”
“I... I have no friends.” She said bluntly. “No pony even wants to hang out or let me be apart of their group because I can’t see and I always screw everything up.” She bit her lower lip. “And then here’s somepony that will actually talk to me who thinks I’m not a screw up.” A few tears sprinkled from her eyes. “I think that’s enough reason for me to treat them the same.”
I looked at her as she wiped her eyes and we continued on the path. We went back to being quiet, both in our own worlds. I faintly smiled as we turned the corner. “You know its funny really, this whole friend thing. I’ve always thought it was a waste of time and no pony would want to be my friend.” I paused. “Then I meet this filly that’s been through what I have, just so much worse. And yet she can still smile and be happy. I’m glad you’re my friend Snowdrop.”
She smiled and almost poked me in the good eye as she flung her hooves around my neck. Her face turned bright red as she let go and quickly sped up, almost hopping along. I laughed as I watched her with a huge smile on her face. “What’s so funny?” She asked.
“Nothing.” I said.
She looked at me, trying to tell if I was lying before shrugging. “We’re almost home.” She said.
“How can you tell?”
“By the smell of my mom’s cooking, of course!” She said, going faster.
I grinned as I followed her. Before long, we arrived at a nice two story cloud house with three windows greeting us in the front. Snowdrop quickly burst through the door, shouting, “Mom! I’m home! And I brought a friend!”
“Oh really?” A mare said from the kitchen, walking out with a smile on her face. Snowdrop ran over and gave her a brief hug. The mare had a two toned mane, a light shade of pink and white. The pattern reminded me of a peppermint candy. Her coat was a faded lime green color. Her cerulean eyes twinkled as she hugged Snowdrop. Her cutie mark was a pink rose and she smiled when she saw me. “And who’s this?”
“I’m Icy Mist. I just moved here from Manehattan,” I said.
“Hello Icy, I’m Primrose.”
“Mom, I was wondering if Icy could stay for dinner. Can he?”
Primrose smiled. “Of course dear, if he wants to.”
“If it wouldn’t be too much of a hassle, that is,” I said, nervously swirling the cloud floor with my hoof.
“Of course not! It’d be my pleasure.” She said.
“Yay! Come on Icy, I wanted to show you my room.” Snowdrop said, grabbing my hoof and rushing me upstairs. I had just turned back to thank Primrose when I saw a tear silently fall from her eye. She mouthed ‘thank you’ at me. Before I could respond, I was whisked upstairs. Snowdrop opened the door and proudly walked inside. I paused, before peering inside.
The room was clean and tidy, the shelves organized. She had a normal bed and a bunch of books. I saw that she had a toy chest in the corner, a few random toys strewn about.
“Wow...” I said, looking at everything.
“What?” She asked, blushing.
“Your room... it’s huge. And you have so much stuff.”
“Well yeah. Mom and Dad say just because I can’t see doesn’t mean I shouldn’t have toys to play with.” She said with a smile. I smiled at her, shaking my head. “Do you have your own room?”
“Yeah but its about as big as a closet. Just enough to fit a bed and a small little chest in. I only got a few toys.”
“Oh...” She paused before she trotted over and opened her chest, digging in there for a moment. She then stopped and pulled out a few dolls. “Wanna play?”
I eyed the doll for a moment, looking at the stuffed pegasus. What would his dad say? Something about a doll being a waste of bits? My eyes widened. But... but he isn’t here to say I can’t and she wants to... I hesitated for a moment before shrugging. “S-sure.”
The rest of the afternoon was spent playing a bunch of games with her like dolls or action figures, a few rounds of hide and seek, which I purposely lost so I could see her smile, and a game or two of tag. Finally, it was getting dark and the breeze started picking up outside. We heard the front door opened and we watched as a stallion walked in.
He had the same powdery blue color coat as Snowdrop. His mane was wavy and silvery, almost as if he was born with it instead of earning it with age. He had laugh lines etched into his face underneath his golden eyes. His cutie mark was a storm cloud with a lightning bolt sticking out of the bottom.
“Hey honey.” He said with a smile.
“Daddy!” She said, running to his open hooves and giving him a hug.
“And who is this?” he asked, looking at me.
“This is my friend Icy!”
“Hello there Icy. I’m Snowdrop’s dad, Storm Chaser.” He held out a hoof.
“Um... hi Mr. Storm Chaser.” As I said this I shook his hoof.
He smiled. “You don’t need to be so formal, you can call me Storm if you want.”
“O-okay...”
He chuckled before looking at Snowdrop. “So how was school honey?”
Before she could answer, Primrose interrupted. “Dinner’s ready.”
Storm smiled. “Come on, you can tell me over dinner.” He said, picking up Snowdrop and putting her on his back. He hopped towards Primrose, Snowdrop giggling as I followed them. Primrose shook her head before kissing the stallion on the cheek as we walked into the kitchen. I walked inside and my mouth dropped.
The table had a plate with some fish propped in the middle. Surrounding it was a large bowl of salad with some dressing mixed in it and a small tray of bread. Instantly my mouth watered as they sat down.
“Well what are you waiting for? You can sit down and dig in whenever you want,” Primrose told me.
I quickly sat down next to Snowdrop and looked at the assembly of food. Primrose hoofed out a plate full of food. I gratefully accepted it.
“You look like you haven't seen a home cooked meal in weeks.” Storm said with a smile.
“Actually its been around four months.” I muttered, distracted by food.
Primrose and Storm shared a look. “What do you mean? Don't your parents cook for you?” Storm asked.
“No, my dad doesn't know how to cook.”
They shared a longer look as I dug into the food. Snowdrop told them about what happened today at school, and she even ran upstairs to show them her cloud flower. Primrose smiled as she gently held it, careful not to damage the snowdrop flower as she got up and got a cup, placing it inside and sat it on the counter. She hugged Snowdrop, kissing her forehead. We went back to eating, laughing as Storm was telling us what happened to him at work.
“So me and Duststorm are moving the snow cloud into position and she accidently sneezes and the cloud unleashed its snow all over the park.” He laughed. “And as she tried to drag it away, some old colt flies up to us, half covered in snow thanks to her, and starts yelling, shaking his hoof. And-” He continued his story as I tuned it out, focusing on the food.
Finally finished, I leaned back, my snout covered in crumbs. Primrose and Storm laughed at me. Embarrassed, I wiped them off.
“I didn't think my cooking was that good.”
“Are you kidding!? This is amazing! I don't think I’ve ever eaten this well in my life!”
Storm laughed. “I’d have to agree with the colt, honey. You really outdid yourself.” As he said this he leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.
She smiled and hoofed out some more that I greedily accepted and soon, my plate was empty. I patted my engorged tummy. “That was amazing Mrs. Primrose, thank you so much.”
“Its my pleasure and please, its Primrose. Mrs. makes me sound so old...”
Storm chuckled. “Oh the wish of youth...” He paused, looking at us. “So do you two have any homework?”
Snowdrop nodded. “Yeah, I was hoping that Icy could stay so we could work on it together.” She asked, giving me puppy dog eyes.
I paused. “Sure, that’d be easier.” I said as I grabbed my plate with my teeth. “Where do you want me to put this?”
“Oh don't worry about it. Go do your homework and I’ll take care of it.” Primrose said.
“Are you sure?”
She nodded. “I’m sure, now go finish that homework.”
I smiled and ran off after Snowdrop. She was in her room, digging through her saddlebags, throwing books and papers everywhere. I helped her organize her stuff and we worked together to finish the drawings. After that, I helped her study for the test tomorrow, quizzing her afterwards. Somehow while doing that, we got distracted and started talking about flying.
Storm knocked on the door and opened it. “So how is the homework coming?”
“Dad, can you teach me to fly?” Snowdrop asked ignoring his question.
Storm paused for a second, blinking in surprise. “But I thought you didn’t want to learn how to fly?”
“But if I don’t, then I’ll never be able to fly amongst the clouds and feel the air in my mane...” She pouted.
He looked at me. “Alright... if you really want to learn, then I’ll teach you.”
“Yay!” She yelled, running up to him and hugging him.
He smiled and nuzzled the top of her head before looking at me. “Do you know how to fly?”
I shook my head. “No... my dad doesn’t think its a skill I need to learn.”
“Nonsense, I’ll teach you with Snowdrop, it’d be fun. Like my dad used to say, ‘a pegasus that doesn’t know how to fly is just an cow with wings.’ No offense to any cows.”
I smiled. “Thank you Mr. Storm.”
“Kid, what did I say about that mister stuff? It’s just Storm.”
I grinned. “Okay Storm.” I looked at the bedroom clock. It said it was a little after five. My heart sank at once. “I think its time I should be heading home,” I said sadly.
Snowdrop frowned. “Okay...”
“Do you want me to walk you home?” Storm offered.
“No, it’s okay, I think I can find it.”
“Where do you live?”
“In the Cozy Apartments by the weather factory, I think?”
Storm nodded. “Come on, I’ll show you the way.”
I grabbed my things and making sure I had everything, headed downstairs. Primrose stood at the bottom, drying a dish.
“Thank you Primrose for letting me come over and for cooking me dinner.” I said, smiling.
“It’s no problem, you're welcome over any time.” She said. “Now you be careful...”
“I will.”
Storm then quickly listed how to get home, even told me a short cut. “Are you sure you don’t want me to walk you home?”
“I’m sure. Thank you though.”
“Okay kid, take it easy.” He said.
Snowdrop walked up to me, staring at the floor. “Do you really have to leave so soon?”
“I do, my dad is going to wonder where I am.” I paused. “But I’ll see you tomorrow at school.”
She looked up and hugged me. “Okay...” I froze, not sure what to do. I looked around and saw Primrose and Storm smiling at us. Storm wrapped his forehooves around himself, nodding at me to do the same. I hesitantly wrapped my hooves around her and hugged back. We soon let go, smiling at each other before I started my trek home. “Be careful!” She yelled.
“I will!” I yelled back waving goodbye. With Storm’s directions, I made my way home, a strong icy breeze hitting me. It was quiet outside, no pony around as the sun slowly disappeared into the horizon. I listened to the wind as I shivered, it whistling past me as snow steadily dropped. A strong gust flew through the street, snow flying everywhere. I bent lower to the cloud and shivered, wishing I had a jacket. Finally, I saw the apartment building. It stood three stories tall and looked like it needed a few touchups, the cloud it was made out of slowly degrading. I opened the door and blinked, my eyes adjusting to the lamplight.
Mrs. Dancer was sitting behind the front desk, reading a book. Her golden glasses shone in the lamplight as she turned the page. Her graying brown mane was wrapped in a bun like it was when I first met her and her dull green coat looked like it was brushed not that long ago. She looked up as I walked inside, shaking off some snow. “Good evening Icy. How was your day?”
“It was... fun.” I said with a smile.
“That’s always good.” She said as I walked by. “Well, have a good night.”
“You too.” I said, walking up the flight of carpeted stairs before I came to my apartment door and unlocked it. The heavy smell of alcohol hit me as soon as I entered. I shut the door behind me as I made my way through the dim lighting. The living room was a mess, with boxes and newspapers all over the place. Unlike Snowdrop’s house, there wasn’t a single picture to be seen. The couch leaned horribly in the back, somehow missing a leg. A few whiskey bottles littered through the debris, dropped half hazardly onto the dark red carpet.
“Son.” a voice said from the kitchen. I gulped as I walked closer, forcing myself into the kitchen. My dad was sitting at the table, slowly swirling a glass of whiskey with his hoof as he stared into the mahogany wood.
“H-hi Dad...” I said, scared to come any closer.
He slowly turned his head looked at me and his blue eyes were glazed over. “Where were you today?” He asked calmly.
“I-I was at a friends house so we could do home-”
“And you didn’t let anypony know? I was worried about you!” He suddenly yelled, slamming the glass down. “What have we talked about with strangers?” He said, his voice slowly building with fury.
“D-don’t talk to them?”
“And did you talk to strangers today?” I nodded, closing my eyes as I knew what he was about to say. “What’s the punishment for breaking a rule?”
I started crying. “B-but Dad-”
I was interrupted as the glass sailed past my head and shattered against the door frame, the glass and whiskey trickling down the wall till they puddled at the floor. “No buts Icy! You broke a rule and you know the punishment. And now you're arguing with me!?” He exploded out of the chair, the furniture smashing hard into the ground. He stomped towards me, the pounding of his hoof matching my heartbeat. He slowly grew to the size of a giant as I looked into his fiery blue eyes. He stared coldly at me. “I raised you, and took care of you, and this is how you repay me?!”
Pain exploded in my head as it collided with something solid before I felt the ground bounce on the other side, dark oblivion taking me into a fitful sleep.