//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: To Start Anew // by Kyi195 //------------------------------// The clouds were beautiful that morning. About as poofy as they could get. As Snow Veil walked on one, waiting for her instructions on where she was to go, she imagined that that’s what it would feel like to walk on a large helping of cotton candy. With that thought she laid down, well more like fell down. The thought of cotton candy made her suddenly crave sweets. She was still slumped over when the head pegasus flew over and gave everyone directions. Snow Veil was sent to leave her cloud to shade a small village called Ponyville. She loved that assignment, for Ponyville was such a peaceful little village, away from any really developed city like Manehattan, or Fillydelphia. Today was, in fact, turning out to be a great day. Floating on a cloud over Ponyville, Snow Veil was still all caught up in her thoughts of sweets. Her mouth watered at the very thought of some luscious cotton candy. She had fallen to the point of chewing on her cloud she was so far gone in her daydream. She awoke with a jump, afraid she had slept the day away. Looking around, she realized noon still had yet to come. Celestia was still on her side. She flapped her wings, pushing the could along until she arrived over Sugarcube Corner. There was quite a ruckus going on there for being so early in the morning. She flew her could off to the side a bit and realized it was some kind of party. Noticing the building s exterior, Snow Veil deduced that it was some kind of bakery. Her mouth began to water again as the thoughts of sweets danced through her mind… again. She guessed she should just wait the party out. ============================== Minutes rolled on by, as speedy as a snail, with every one feeling longer than the last. “I don’t want to just barge on in,” Snow Veil said to herself. “I wasn’t invited. What if it’s a special party for somepony and all I did was manage to ruin it?” It was decided, she would keep waiting, no matter how long it would take. She would show that she had the greater patience. Again seconds rolled into minutes, which snowballed into hours, and before you know it, Snow Veil had spent seven hours waiting for this seemingly perpetual party to cease so she could slip in and buy some cupcakes (her mind had passed the need for cotton candy as it was much too sweet to eat this late in the evening). Finally, after what seemed like forever and a day, ponies started funneling out the door. A hyperactive pink pony with overly curly hair suddenly burst from the window and thanked everypony for showing up to… what was that… Gummy’s third birthday party. Hold up. “Who the heck is Gummy,” Snow veil asked herself aloud. “That doesn’t seem to be a very fitting name for anypony,” she mused. Oh well. Everypony was filing our so she decided it was time to head on over. It was cupcake time. So Snow Veil descended from her airborne vantage point and made her way past the crowd leaving Sugarcube Corner. “That’s a lot of cake,” she thought, dumbfounded that one building could house that much sweet food. She was just standing there, eyes wide, jaw on the floor. Somepony seemed to catch on to her aura and waltzed right on over and put her hoof on Snow Veil’s shoulder, facing where Snow Veil was. “Amazing isn’t it. I made all of this, this morning all on my own, just for Gummy’s party. Oh by the way, I’m Pinkie Pie.” Pinkie Pie finished her rushed introduction, completely forgetting to tell poor Snow Veil exactly where she was in Ponyville. “Wow…” was all Snow Veil could manage until what Pinkie said finally hit her. “Wait, hold up. You made ALL of this?!” “Yep!” “On your own?!” “You know it!” At this Now Veil’s eyes lit up so more. Seeing what this peculiar pony was capable of. Turning around to face Pinkie, Snow Veil smiled and said, “Yes this is amazing. I’m Snow Veil by the way. Nice to meet you.” Halfway through Snow Veil was bubbling, realizing Pinkie’s over joyous attitude was contagious. “Nice to meet you too, Snow Veil, and welcome to Ponyville, and more importantly, Sugarcube Corner. I’m the main baker here and I take care of the Cakes’ little fillies. OH! You should see them, they are so cute and love to play. I used to have to break flour over my head to get them to stop crying but now we all get along fine. Oh did I mention I’m the baker here.” Snow Veil simply nodded her head as she waited for Pinkie to finish her spiel. She finally managed a word when Pinkie had to stop for a breath. “Well then I would like to buy some cupcakes please.” At this Pinkie’s eyes and smile grew even larger than they already were, which was pretty large, and seemed to consume the rest of her face. The tour began. “Weeelll, we have vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry cupcakes. Carrot cake and lemon cake cupcakes. Blueberry, cherry, and apple cupcakes. *GASP*” “The apple cupcakes please.” Snow Veil rushed in before Pinkie could start again. Celestia only knows how long she could have gone on. “Oh that’s GREAT! You know, the apples for these cupcakes come from the orchard on the other side of town, Sweet Apple Acres. The Apple family lives and works there. You should go sometime and meet Applejack. She is one of my best friends.” “Ok, I sure will,” Snow Veil stated, Matter-of-factly. Since Snow Veil lacked her saddlebags, she stayed at Sugarcube Corner to eat her apple cupcakes, which turned out fantastically. Her and Pinkie talked for the whole time, with Pinkie talking most of the time. Pinkie talked about her life in Ponyville, her pet Gummy, and all of her friends, which from what Snow Veil could catch, seemed to be the whole town. Snow Veil managed to get her to go on merely by saying “yeah” or “uh-huh”, as Pinkie was talking for the sake of talking mostly rather than for storytelling. When Snow Veil had finished her amazing cupcakes she decided that she should leave promptly, as to avoid Pinkie finding a new subject to talk about. Right at the end Snow Veil recalled her talking of some trick that everypony said was impossible… Something about a wall or something. Too bad Snow Veil wasn’t really listening, in retrospect, it would have been interesting. So Pinkie and Snow Veil said their farewells and Snow Veil flew off back to Cloudsdale and her house for the night. On her way she was just admiring Luna’s work in the sky. Sure Celestia brought the sun that allowed everything to grow but Luna’s handwork was just downright gorgeous. “If I never had to see the sun again,” Snow Veil mused, “I would be perfectly content.” Snow Veil arrived home and began her nighttime rituals. She closed all the blinds to the house, locked both doors, kissed the picture of her parents good night and tucked herself in. she had done this for six straight years and she wasn’t intending to give it up anytime soon.