All across Ponyville the leaves left in the boughs of the trees were succumbing to the icy gusts heralding Winter's cruelty. The weather ponies would be receiving snow shipments from Cloudsdale any day now. The snow would snuff out the rebellious flowers that stood defiant to the icy wind. The unfeeling cold would freeze water and creature alike.
Above all, Fluttershy dreaded this time of year. She had already helped most of her animal friends prepare for their hibernation. Saying goodbye for endless weeks was hard, but it was not those she would greet in the spring that troubled her heart so. This was the season of death. Innocent little bugs perished in droves. The old, the sick, the tired...they all refused to hibernate—instead choosing a much longer slumber.
Fluttershy shivered as another breeze pierced her feathers and fur. She would have to warm herself up in her cottage soon enough, but she didn't want to leave just yet. Before her, a small pile of dirt marked the grave of one of her friends that had grown too old to survive another winter. She wasn't even able to be at his side in his final hours. She had been helping the birds prepare for their long flight south.
It seemed like only a short time ago that she had returned to her cottage to find several of her animal friends mourning the grey squirrel. Of course, all of her little friends were at her side as she dug the hole in the dirt with her hooves and ceremoniously returned him to the earth. She had cried for a while, but as time ran on she just sat there and stared at the tiny mound of dirt. In a well-practiced manner, Fluttershy forced herself to remember the happy times she had spent with him.
Her old friend would be the first of many to perish in the wake of Winter's frozen wrath. She would repeat this horror again, and again, and again. With a muffled sob, Fluttershy subtly rubbed her frozen wings against her sides.
Standing and turning around, Fluttershy tried to remain strong. There would be many more graves to dig in the coming days. If she allowed her sorrow to consume her now, her other friends would not get the send off they deserved. "Goodbye," she whispered in a shaky voice as she walked away.
It was a short walk back to her cottage. When Fluttershy got there, she found the Cutie Mark Crusaders playing in front of her door. Each one of them had an adorable scarf to ward off the chilling breeze. Their joyous shouts helped to soothe her heart as she drew nearer.
"Hello girls," she greeted as she neared, sending out a puff of foggy breath.
"Fluttershy!" they screeched in unison as they assembled in front of her.
Fluttershy couldn't help but to smile at the adorable little hellions. "What brings you three out here?"
"We were going to have a sleepover at Rarity's," Sweetie Belle started to explain. "Then she said that she couldn't because—"
"Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo excitedly announced. "She said that she would be bringing in the year's first snow early!"
"E-early?" Fluttershy quietly asked, her voice wavering slightly.
The trio nodded as Scootaloo continued, "Something about Cloudsdale, or something. Anyway, she's going to start the snow first thing tomorrow morning!"
"Because of the snow, the train might not run after tomorrow morning," Sweetie Belle fretted. "So Rarity says she has to get her orders all done tonight and can't watch us."
"We were hoping that we could have our sleepover here, instead," Apple Bloom finished, cuing the other Crusaders to join her in putting on their best pleading faces.
"Oh, I don't know..." Fluttershy looked away to try to avoid falling prey to the d'aww.
"Please?" they begged in unison.
Breathing a small sigh, Fluttershy looked back to the eager fillies. "You know, you would have to leave first thing in the morning to get home before the snow."
"We can stay!?" Sweetie Belle beamed.
"You would probably have to leave before you even get a chance to eat breakfast," she continued.
"Can we!? Can we!?" Scootaloo buzzed in the air a moment.
"And you would certainly have to go to bed early."
"Yeah, yeah... So can we stay!?" Apple Bloom pressed.
"Yes. You can stay." Fluttershy hung her head in defeat.
"Cutie Mark Crusader sleepover at Flutteshy's! Yay!" they shouted together, startling dozens of critters and blowing Fluttershy's mane back with the sheer power of their volume.
"Um... Y-yes, well..." Fluttershy muttered as she made her way past the three fillies and opened her door. "Why don't we get out of this cold and into my nice, warm cottage?"
"Thanks!" Scootaloo eagerly followed Fluttershy, though the other two Crusaders hesitated.
"It ain't even lunchtime, yet," Apple Bloom scoffed as she pointed a hoof. "Let's go help my big sister on the farm! She's gotta get all kinds of stuff ready 'fore the snow. It's a great chance to try and get our cutie marks!"
Sweetie Belle pointed in a different direction. "No, we need to go help Rarity! She was behind schedule before Rainbow Dash changed the first snow!"
"Um, well... Girls..." Fluttershy muttered as the two fillies began to argue.
They continued to exchange words for a few moments before deciding that they would go help their own sister. "Come on, Scootaloo!" they called in unison, each expecting the pegasus to take their side.
"Uh..." Scootaloo hesitated on Fluttershy's doorstep as the other two Crusaders stomped off in different directions. After looking between her two friends several times, she hung her head. She didn't want to pick sides and risk alienating one of her only friends, and she didn't have her own sister to go help, either.
"Would you like some hot chocolate?" Fluttershy offered from the warmth of her cottage. When Scootaloo looked up, Fluttershy changed her tone. "Um... If you don't mind...that is..."
Breathing out a long sigh, Scootaloo entered the cottage. She made sure to wipe her hooves and detangle herself from her scarf as she entered. "Thanks Fluttershy," she muttered as she closed the door.
The kind pegasus couldn't help but to smile as she trotted off to get the ingredients. "I don't have any marshmallows, if that's okay," she meekly announced as she placed a pan on her stove.
"It's fine," Scootaloo grumbled as she sat at Fluttershy's table. "I can't believe they just...urrrgh!"
"It must be hard on you... I was an only child, too, you know." Fluttershy peeked over to see Scootaloo looking rather forlorn. Giving a little sigh, she finished fixing the hot cocoa in silence. Fluttershy set a mug in front of Scootaloo before sitting across from her with her own cup.
Wrapping her hooves around the mug, Scootaloo took a sip of steamy, sweet beverage. "It's good," she said, smacking her lips and looking up at Fluttershy. The mare shied away from her gaze, but that wasn't what struck Scootaloo as odd. Fluttershy's hooves were muddy and her fur was matted around her eyes.
"Fluttershy, are you okay?" Scootaloo warily asked.
"Huh?"
"It looks like you've been crying, and...your hooves..."
Fluttershy looked to the hooves around her mug to see the grave soil still marring them. The sight was enough to make her stomach turn. "Oh...my..." she muttered before getting up and cantering out of the room.
The next thing Scootaloo knew, she heard running water. She imagined Fluttershy must've been washing her hooves. By the time half of her mug was empty, the sound of water remained steady. Maybe Fluttershy was washing her face, too? Finally, Scootaloo met the bottom of her mug, and the flowing water still did not fade.
Getting up, Scootaloo found her way to Fluttershy's bathroom. Knocking on the door, she called out, "Fluttershy? Are you okay in there?"
"Ju-just a moment!" Fluttershy's voice barely rose enough to be heard over the water.
A little over a minute later, Fluttershy finally emerged. Her expression was stoic, if not a little sullen. Her entire face was still damp as were her hooves. "I-I'm sorry, Scootaloo. I just... I needed a little while to myself."
"Are you sure you're okay?" Scootaloo looked up to Fluttershy as she followed the mare back to the main room.
Fluttershy retrieved her lukewarm mug before treading over to her couch and sitting heavily onto the cushions. By this point, many of her animal friends had joined her in an attempt to comfort her. Finally finding the courage, she gave her head a subtle shake. "No... Not really."
"What's wrong?" Scootaloo pried as she tentatively climbed up next to Fluttershy. "It's... I mean, did we do something wrong?"
Fluttershy looked surprised before shaking her head. "This has nothing to do with any of you girls," she assured.
"You really don't mind us staying?" Scootaloo brightened a bit.
"I would love for you girls to stay," Fluttershy assured before hiding behind her cup.
Scootaloo looked to Fluttershy a moment before hanging her head. She wasn't really satisfied with Fluttershy saying that she didn't mind them staying. This whole situation was just really awkward. Looking to the door, Scootaloo briefly wondered if she should just leave and go and do...something.
As the silence started to become suffocating, Fluttershy sighed. "I'm sorry, it's just..." she trailed off as she chanced a glance at the filly next to her. "One...one of my animal friends...he-he d-died today."
Scootaloo's eyes widened in surprise before she adopted a sympathetic look. "I-I'm sorry," she muttered, not knowing what else to say.
"I'm... I will be okay," she asserted giving Scootaloo a small smile. "I'm just a little sad right now."
"So...you know you're going to be okay?" Scootaloo looked up at Fluttershy. "The sadness will go away and you won't miss them, uh, I mean, him anymore?"
Fluttershy couldn't help but to smile back at the expectant filly. Slowly drawing out her wing, she draped it over Scootaloo's shoulders. "No," she gently denied with a small shake of her head, eliciting a strange sort of surprised and disappointed look from Scootaloo. "The only way to stop missing somepony once they've left forever is to stop caring about them... That's just...too cruel for me to bear."
"But-but you said...!"
"I said that I will be okay," Fluttershy reiterated as she pulled the filly closer to her, "and I-I will be. I will never forget him, the memories we shared, or the things that made him so special. It...might make me sad to think that I will never get a chance to make new memories with him, but that makes the memories we've already shared just so much more precious."
Fluttershy felt a small hoof on her cheek as a lone tear spilled over. Looking over, she found a glassy-eyed filly staring back up at her. "S-so the sadness will never go away?" Scootaloo asked.
Shaking her head, Fluttershy tried to hold back her tears. "It gets better in time, but, n-no, it doesn't go away," she shook her head. "You will always feel a sort of...sad loneliness, especially when you remember them. But it-that's not the only feeling you have to experience. If-if you just remember all of your happy times together and all the things that make them special, then...it's almost as if they're still there to comfort you.” Finally, her tears overwhelmed her willpower. “Then...then it's...o-okay."
Hurriedly placing the mug on the floor, Fluttershy embraced the filly. "It's okay! It-it's okay. It's...okay..." she repeated the mantra as she cried and hugged Scootaloo tight.
The two pegasi held each other for some time. Several minutes later they had finally calmed down. Fluttershy was lying on the couch with Scootaloo curled up against her. Fluttershy found herself pondering just who Scootaloo had lost. In truth, that talk stopped being about the aging squirrel almost as soon as it had started. With a sigh Fluttershy looked again to the filly. She was just lying there, staring into nothing.
"I...I always find myself dreading Winter's arrival," Fluttershy found herself confessing. "I have to say goodbye to most of my animal friends. They go to hibernate or leave and go south for the winter. Some of them... I-I never get to see them again."
By this time, Scootaloo was looking up at Fluttershy again. "Many of my friends stay here with me because they want to, but...a lot of them are just too tired or..." she trailed off with a mournful sigh. "I know that...m-most of them won't get to see the new spring. Winter...it-it takes them all away from me, forever."
"Why do they...have to die?" Scootaloo asked as she locked eyes with Fluttershy. "Why can't everypony just live forever like the Princesses?"
Fluttershy pondered it a moment before looking back at Scootaloo with a small, sad smile. "For the same reason it doesn't stop hurting. If everything existed forever, then life wouldn't be so precious. No pony would care at all about anypony or anything. It would be like a neverending winter—cold, weary and so very alone."
Sighing, Fluttershy allowed a new silence to settle in. This time, it was Scootaloo that broke the silence, "B-but, when somepony you love dies...you're alone anyway. I don't like being alone."
"That's the beautiful thing about life." Fluttershy nuzzled the filly. "Spring brings life anew, and it's sure to fill your heart with happiness and love," she assured. "Your spring will come—you just have to suffer through the cold and lonely winter to reach it."
Unfortunately, when Fluttershy pulled back, Scootaloo still looked forlorn. Struggling to find comforting words, she was given a reprieve by a sharp rapping at her door. "U-um, I'll get it," she muttered as she got up, feeling a cool spot spot on her side where the filly had been cuddled up with her.
Just as she reached the door, another series of knocks startled her. She instinctively recoiled away from the door. Taking a calming breath, she reached for the handle and opened the door.
"Hey, Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash greeted.
A resounding thump drew the two mares' attention to Scootaloo as she pulled herself up off the floor and rubbed her face a moment. When she noticed that Rainbow Dash had noticed her, she blushed and tried her darnedest to look cool. "H-hey Rainbow Dash!"
Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow before turning back to Fluttershy. "Anyway, I just stopped by to let you know that Cloudsdale moved our snow shipment up. We're starting the year's first snow tomorrow. It starts two hours after dawn."
"Oh, um...thanks, Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy replied.
"Are you preparing for the storm, too, Rainbow Dash?" Scootaloo asked.
"Nah," Rainbow Dash denied. "I just have to finish telling everypony about the change. I don't have to do anything until tomorrow."
"O-oh," Scootaloo muttered.
Scootaloo's disappointment perplexed Rainbow Dash a moment. Seeing that Rainbow Dash wasn't about to put two and two together on her own, Fluttershy spoke up, "The Cutie Mark Crusaders are having a sleepover here tonight, but Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom are helping their sisters prepare for the first snow."
Rainbow blinked a couple of times before she realized what Fluttershy was going on about. Her eyes widened a bit before she regained her cool and put on a smile. "Hey, why don't you come with me?" Dash offered as she hunched down to look Scootaloo in the eye. "We can tell everypony else about the snow and maybe hang out after."
Scootaloo grinned from ear to ear as she buzzed in the air. "Really!?"
"Come on!" Rainbow Dash urged as she spun around.
Scootaloo darted after her, slamming the door and causing Fluttershy to flinch. Children can be so resilient, she envied Scootaloo's strength with a ghost of a smile.
Just as she was about to turn away, the door burst open. Two tiny hooves snaked around her neck as Scootaloo hugged her. "Thanks, Fluttershy!" Scootaloo gave her one last squeeze before letting go. Then she grabbed her scarf and dashed off, slamming the door again.
Fluttershy couldn't help but to chuckle. Turning around, she glanced over the critters that braved the ruckus. "The girls are helping prepare for the storm," she said as she trotted over and picked a broom. "We need to prepare for something even scarier: three fillies," she joked with a smile.
Even if it was doomed to only last a short while, Scootaloo had granted her a brief respite from Winter's cruelty. Fluttershy hadn't forgotten about her lost friend, but she had come to be at peace with his passing. There would more losses for Fluttershy in the coming months, but for now she was actually smiling and humming as she prepared for the fillies and their sleepover.