Of Sky and Snow
Chapter 6
Day One: Bumpy Start
“Rainbow! Wake up wake up wake up!” Twilight shouted excitedly, shaking the sleeping pegasus forcefully as she leaned over the bed.
“Twi, it's like seven in the morning; give it a rest,” Rainbow mumbled, burying her head further into her pillows, shutting out the light streaming through the bedroom's window. While the living room window faced towards the mountain in the east, the one in the bedroom faced west, away from the rising sun. Although it didn't face the sun directly, the light managed to reflect off a sheet of snow and directly through the window. The bedroom window may have been a great deal smaller than the one in the main room, the bright rays were still annoying. Almost as annoying as the unicorn that was shaking her. Almost.
“But the ski lifts open in twenty minutes and the others still have to get their gear; the rental shop opened an hour ago,” Twilight nearly whined, doubling her efforts to rouse the pegasus from her comfy blankets and mattress.
“Then why can't they get their stuff and then wake me when the lifts are actually open?” The pegasus groaned, finding it increasingly difficult to ignore the lavender hoof continuously poking at her.
“Because I have the payment card, and we need to get in on the first runs; there's nothing quite like the fresh new snow on the first run of the day, even if we're just sticking to the short runs for the girls today. But you should know that by now,” Twilight added as an afterthought, her statement jolting the pegasus awake faster than any alarm could hope to.
“Right, I knew that. Let's gather the girls!” Rainbow stated swiftly, leaping out of bed and to the door. Twilight gave her an odd look at the sudden change, but shrugged it off as her mind finally waking up and followed out to the main room, collecting their gear from the closet in a magical glow and placing their boots in front of them.
“I'll go get the others, you get ready,” Twilight called as she walked to the door, bringing their payment card as she went to wake the others and give them instructions.
Once Twilight vanished around the corner of the door, Rainbow swallowed nervously, eyeing her boots wearily. Come on Rainbow, she told herself, if you can fly, you can snowboard... right? She gave a confidence-boosting grin, which did practically nothing, and collected her boots. Sitting on the semi-soft couch she began the ever-laborious process of attaching the the hunks of plastic to her hooves. By some stroke of luck she managed to get them secured to her hooves before Twilight got back, but she couldn't help but notice they felt tighter than they had yesterday.
“Alright, they'll meet us at the ski lift once they get their gear, so we can... Rainbow? Why are you wearing my boots?” Twilight asked when she came back into the room, cocking her head from the doorway as she looked at the boots that were clearly built for skiing.
Rainbow's cheeks lit up crimson as she realized why the boots were tighter than she remembered. hastily undoing the straps, she stopped when they were undone and pulled off her hooves for her courtesy of Twilight's magic. “I... uh... ah-heh... well...” Rainbow fumbled with her words, trying to think of a viable reason. Twilight just rolled her eyes.
“Really, did you think I wouldn't notice? I have to say Rainbow, I think your pranks are slipping,” Twilight admonished lightly, slipping her hooves into her boots and tossing Rainbow her own.
“Right... prank,” Rainbow chuckled nervously, silently thanking Celestia Twilight had provided her with an excuse. “You caught me. Anyway, what were you saying?”
“The girls are going to meet us at the lift after they get their gear, so we can head down whenever we're ready,” Twilight explained, throwing her jacket on and pulling her goggles over her head, letting them dangle from her neck.
Rainbow nodded as she finished strapping the last boot to her hoof, holding in a groan as she reflexively tried to bend her ankle. Twilight was already standing anxiously by the door with her skis and poles. With more effort than it should normally take, Rainbow pushed herself off the couch and stood, grabbing her board under her wing and following Twilight out the door.
“I can't wait,” Twilight started happily, practically dancing down the hall. “It's only the small runs until the girls get the hang of it, but it's going to be so much fun! Then, tomorrow, you and I can go-”
Rainbow tuned the rest of it out, struggling not to think too much about what she was about to do. She was out of avoidance tactics, and she'd be lucky to get through the day without Twilight constantly reminding her about what she would have to do tomorrow. Nervous was an understatement; she was petrified. But it was this or risk exposing her lie. As they walked, Rainbow purposefully lagged behind a few paces, stretching out the walk for as long as possible while she examined the board under her wing. There must have been some way to make it look like she knew what she was doing, right?
The piece of sports equipment was completely unfamiliar to her, however. Rainbow couldn't make heads or tails of the contraption she was carrying, and to make it worse she knew that she was expected to teach Applejack how to do it.
“Rainbow?” Twilight asked, her voice slightly concerned.
Hearing her name snapped Rainbow out of her thoughts, turning to face the unicorn that had called her.
“Seriously, what's been going on? You've been zoning out like that nonstop since we got here,” Twilight said, stopping in the middle of the hall. Rainbow came to a stop in front of her.
Rainbow opened her mouth to reply, but promptly shut it. What could she say? From the look on her face, Twilight wasn't going to let it drop this time. Taking a breath, she looked up and down the hall, making sure they were alone. “Twilight, I...” she trailed off, unsure of what she should say.
“Rainbow?” Twilight repeated worriedly.
The pegasus shook her head firmly and grinned cockily. “It's nothing. Just been a while since I was snowboarding, but I'll get back into it in no time.”
“If you're sure...” Twilight said slowly. Upon the eager smile Rainbow gave her, Twilight nodded and once again started walking down the hall.
Rainbow didn't know if she should be thrilled Twilight bought it, or dreading that she would actually have to snowboard.
Not long later, Rainbow found herself at the place she hoped she'd never have to see; the chairlift leading up the mountain. The massive metal machine hummed quietly, the various bits and bobs clanking noisily against each other. With every metallic thud making Rainbow cringe inside as she gazed upon the contraption. Twilight had stopped as soon as the sidewalks ended and the snow began, laying her skis out beneath her and snapping them onto her boots. Rainbow had laid out her board, but was still unsure what to do with it.
“C'mon Dash,” She scolded herself. “You practically taught yourself most of your stunts, surely you can teach yourself how to attach a hunk of wood to you hooves!” With a deep breath she stepped her right hoof into what looked like a cage for her boot. It slid in smoothly, and she leaned down to do up the straps. She was about to strap her other free hoof in when she started thinking about how hard that would make it to move, let along walk.
“How the hay...” Rainbow muttered, ultimately deciding to strap the other hoof in when she was at the top of the mountain. She smiled when she saw another snowboarded walk past her, snowboard attached to only one hoof as they dragged it across the snow towards the lift. She'd guessed right.
“Alright, now we just need to wait for the girls,” Twilight announced as she reared up on her hind legs and grabbed her poles, using them to push herself along the snow towards a set of large racks. “I said we'd meet them out here.”
“Right...” Rainbow sighed, awkwardly dragging herself across the snow behind her friend. A gentle breeze blew through the space, ruffling Rainbow's feathers and making Twilight's light purple jacket billow slightly.
“Hurry up,” Twilight grumbled, stabbing her poles roughly into the snow and falling back onto her front legs, her hoof tapping impatiently against the ground.
Rainbow wanted them to take as long as possible.
“So what's really been going on with you?” Twilight asked, making Rainbow wish their friends would show up.
“N-nothing,” Rainbow stuttered out.
“No, I'm sick and tired of that answer, Rainbow,” Twilight barked suddenly. “Ever since we decided on this vacation something's been up with you, and every time I ask about it you give me that same answer or an excuse just as weak. I want to know what's really going on, right now.”
Rainbow sighed heavily, glancing around nervously. As far as she could see they were alone, most of the other ponies at the resort either already on the mountain or still asleep. Twilight wouldn't let her off easy this time, and their friends were still getting their equipment. “I... promise me you won't say anything to the girls, alright?”
Twilight nodded slowly. “If you don't want me to, I won't.”
Taking a deep breath, Rainbow nodded in appreciation. “Well... I... uh... I've never-”
“Hey girls!” Pinkie chirped excitedly, bouncing over to them. The tips of her skis could be seen just poking out of her poofy pink mane. Her poles were nowhere in sight.
“Pinkie!” Rainbow cried happily, more thankful she didn't have to tell Twilight the truth than she was happy to see her friend. She caught the glare Twilight was giving her, and knew full well the unicorn wouldn't let it drop just because their friends showed up.
“So, we gonna do this or what?” Applejack asked as she slid herself across the snow, her snowboard strapped onto one of her hooves.
Twilight, still glaring over at Rainbow Dash, simply nodded. “As soon as Rarity-”
“I'm here!” Came the sing-song voice of the fashionista, as though summoned by her name. The unicorn trotted over quickly, her skis and poles secured in her light blue magic grasp.
“Alright, first things first, Pinkie, Rarity, put your skis on, AJ and Rainbow, go wait over by the lift,” Twilight started, motioning to the shortest lift on the mountain.
Complying, Applejack followed Rainbow away from the skiers as Twilight showed them how to attach their skis. Suppressing a nervous shudder at the large machine now looming over them, Rainbow swallowed nervously.
“Y'all 'right there sugarcube? You're lookin' a mite bit pale,” Applejack noted quietly.
“Fine...” Rainbow responded through clenched teeth,
Applejack sighed. “Same as before then. Fine, changing the subject; how the hay am I supposed to stay standing on two legs with this hunk of wood strapped to mah hooves?”
“Heck if I know,” the pegasus answered shortly, keeping here eyes pointed resolutely away from the mountain.
“What do ya mean? I thought you've done this before.”
Rainbow's eyes grew wide as she realized what she'd just let slip. “No, I uh, I mean uh-”
“There you go, Pinkie!” Twilight called ecstatically, leading Pinkie and Rarity to the lift on their skis. Rarity held the most proper posture possible in ski boots, while Pinkie looked as though she would fall over at any minute.
“Whoa... how do – ahh – do I stop -weeee! - wobbling?” Pinkie asked, swaying unsteadily back and forth, though still grinning like she was having the most fun she'd ever had.
“Think of it.... think of like skating!” Twilight said suddenly, grinning as she came up with an idea. “It's just like that, only instead of four blades you have two.”
As soon as the words registered in Pinkie's mind her legs straightened out slight, her poles lodged firmly in the ground as she regained her balance. A moment later she pulled them out and pushed herself forward with them, sliding smoothly across the snow. “Ooohhh, that makes so much more sense than pretending I'm standing on two Gummy's!”
“Hmmph, the least they could do is make these thing look a little better. Maybe a ruby or two...” Rarity grumbled as she joined the group, staying perfectly balanced even without the help of her poles.
“Wow! Rarity, you learn fast!” Twilight commented with a mild tone of surprise, getting an indignant huff from the designer.
“When one wears high heels on a regular basis, one develops perfect balance,” she explained. “Now if I can keep that balance going down a hill, well, we'll just have to see, won't we?”
Twilight returned Rarity's smile before addressing the group. “Well, everypony seems to be able to stand up now, so any last questions before we go up?”
Rainbow sucked in a breath, racking her brain for something that would let her stall just a little longer. “H-hey! Where's... um... where's Fluttershy?”
“Back at the room looking after the girls and Spike. I think they were going to take a look around the resort today,” Rarity explained, glancing back to the buildings. “I hope they aren't being too much of a hoof full.”
“Oh! I almost forgot!” Twilight said suddenly, digging around inside her coat. Giving a cry of success she pulled out five sets of identical goggles. “I bought these from the store yesterday after I did my run. It's going to get really bright when the sun comes up above the mountains,” she explained, passing the tinted eye-wear around.
When everypony had put the goggles on, Twilight turned to the lift with a grin. “Up we go.”
Rainbow swallowed thickly.
“Alright, everypony know what we're doing?” Twilight asked, standing next to Rainbow Dash, the others lines up in front of them. She received a round of nods. “Excellent. This one's not too steep and it's pretty short, so I don't think anypony should have problems. But if you have to choose between falling and going off the slope into the trees, fall. You'll find that snow is a lot more forgiving than wood.”
“Speaking from experience, I presume?” Rarity asked with a smirk, eliciting snickers from the group.
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Everypony who's ever gone skiing knows what it's like to hit a tree. I'm sure by the end of this week all of you will too. Now then, one more time: Rainbow and I are going to go about half way down. Watch what we do, and when we stop, you go. Don't bother stopping with us; we'll come down behind you when you pass us. Remember to control your speed. If you go too fast to control, then fall; it's a lot safer to fall than to lose control. Nopony else is on this hill yet, and probably won't be for another hour or two, so we have plenty of time to practice control. Ready?”
Giving a grin at her friends' confirmations, Twilight reared up on her hind legs, grabbed her poles, and swung herself around to face the hill. “Let's go, Rainbow!” She called, pushing herself down the hill. In a flash she was gone, turning into a rapidly shrinking purple dot as she raced down the slope, slaloming back and forth across the snow, bordered on either side by trees.
Rainbow watched her go for a few moments before turning back to her friends, all watching her with expectant eyes. “Heh.. right...” she said nervously, glancing over her shoulder at the hill. Twilight was already stopped half way down, looking up at them. “Here I go...”
Uttering a silent prayer, Rainbow dragged her board over to the edge of the slope, swinging it around and strapping her other hoof into it. She looked at her friends. “If I die, it's Twilight's fault.”
With those final words, Rainbow Dash stood up on her hind legs and threw her weight forward, moving just enough to go over the edge and let gravity do the rest. She disappeared down the hill, leaving the rest of the group in confusion at what she'd said.
“AAAAAHHHHHHhhhhh!” Rainbow failed to suppress her shriek as she flew over the snow at a seemingly impossibly speed. In an instant she was going faster than she could fly in the same amount of time from a stop, and she was still picking up speed.
“Think think think! How do I slow down!?” She screamed at herself in her head, watching as trees flew by on either side of her. The purple dot half way down the hill was coming at her faster and faster. “Alright, Twi was going back and forth, that makes sense... how do I turn!?”
Doing the only thing she could think of, Rainbow did what she did when she was flying and leaned. Leaning backward she pressing the edge of the snowboard deeper into the snow. Through some miracle, she started turning left, her speed decreasing slightly as she started going sideways instead of straight down.
“Alright... alright; that wasn't so bad...” she told herself, shifting her weight so she started leaning forward, the board beneath her hooves turning to the right instead. For a brief, terrifying moment, she gained a little speed as she went down, but quickly lost it as she turned all the way and once again moved to the other side of the slope.
Rainbow gave a hesitant, getting into a rhythm of leaning back and forth. She slalomed back and forth across the slope, going much slower than Twilight had, but at the moment she wasn't thinking of speed. To her, she was already going faster than she wanted to. Suddenly her eyes widened; Twilight was getting closer and closer, and she had to figure out how to stop before she reached the unicorn.
“Deep breath, Rainbow; how did Twilight stop? Wait, I wasn't watching her!” The purple speck half way down the slope was now a clearly defined unicorn mare.
“Stop stop stop stop stop please for the love of Celestia stop!” Rainbow pressed down into the board, leaning towards the bottom of the hill and bending her knees, getting as low as possible. To her horror, she started gaining speed, the wind buffeting against her face harshly. Just as she was about to shoot past Twilight, her board gave a violent shudder, and Rainbow was thrown forward, tumbling end over end in the air.
With a spectacular spray of snow she hit the ground, continuing to roll a couple more meters down the hill before coming to a stop lying spread-eagle across the slope, facing the bright blue sky, tinted yellow through her goggles. “Well, I stopped,” she said to herself, groaning as she pushed herself to sit upright. She winced as her back left hoof wriggled in its boot, a telltale shot of pain racing up her leg.
The sound of skis skidding across snow filled her ears as a blast of white powder was thrown over the back of her head. “Nice one, Rainbow!” Twilight quipped from behind her, giggling as the pegasus brushed the snow from her mane.
“Was that really necessary?” Rainbow grumbled, tossing a glare over her shoulder.
“All things considered? Yes. Now, how about you tell me why you said you knew how to snowboard when you clearly don't.”
Rainbow's pupils shrank as she gasped. “W-what?
Rolling her eyes, Twilight came up beside Rainbow, looking down at her for a moment before looking back up to the top of the hill. “You can go now!” She shouted through cupped hooves, waving her friends to come down the slope. When she was sure they got the message, Twilight turned back to the pegasus and fell back onto her flank, kicking her skis out from under her and laying on her side facing Rainbow.
“Dash, it's clear as day you don't know the first thing about snowboarding,” she explained, watching as her friends slowly but surely made their way down the hill. “You're as new to this as them, so I want to know why you lied to me.”
“I...” Rainbow trailed off nervously, fiddling idle with the snow under her hooves. She glanced up at Twilight briefly before quickly averting her eyes. “I dunno...”
Twilight sighed, her head drooping a little. “Come on, Rainbow; I told you that you can tell me anything. You obviously had a reason for doing this, and I promise I won't laugh or think any less of you because of this,” she assured gently.
“I... I don't want to talk about it... not...” Rainbow stopped herself again as Pinkie skid past them, grinning madly at the pair. She was followed closely by Rarity, Applejack coming down behind her, wobbling slight as she tried to keep her balance. “Not around the other girls.”
Frowning, Twilight nodded slowly. “Fine, but promise me you'll tell me later, okay?”
Rainbow swallowed, unsure if it was a promise she should make. Upon seeing the look on Twilight's face, she gave in and nodded. “I promise.”
“Good. Now come on; you're going to catch a cold if you keep laying in the snow without a coat,” Twilight announced cheerfully, doing a manoeuvre Rainbow could only dream of and standing up with her skis. She offered a hoof. “Come on; take it slow and you should be able to make it to the bottom.”
Taking the hoof, Rainbow was pulled up onto her hooves, wincing as weight was put on her hind leg again. “Oh, Twi, I think I sprained something...”
“Do you think you can make it to the bottom?” Twilight asked concernedly, watching as Rainbow shifted her weight around a bit, resulting in a grunt of pain. “Probably not."
"Can you fly?
Giving a cursory glance at her wings, Rainbow cringed. The feathers were caked with snow from her fall, and any semblance of alignment they had was lost in a flurry of disorganized chaos. "Maybe after a half hour of preening... that's gonna take forever."
Twilight frowned again, the offending hoof Rainbow was clearly trying to keep weight off. “Okay, hold still,” she said, lighting her horn and wrapping the leg in a lavender glow. The magic seemed to soak into the appendage, and as the glow disappeared Rainbow was shocked to find she could put her full weight on her hoof without any pain.
“You healed it?” She asked in awe.
“No, I just numbed the pain. You'll be able to make it to the bottom, but be careful; we don't want you doing anymore damage to it. If it's not too bad I'll be able to heal it once we get back to the room,” Twilight explained, grabbing her poles. “Now come on; the sooner we get you off that hoof the better. You go first, and I'll stay with you, okay?”
Rainbow gave a nervous glance down the hill, recalling how she'd managed to control herself before and slowly angling her snowboard down the hill until she gained just the barest hint of speed. Her body tensed and a shiver ran down her spine as she turned a little more towards the top of the hill, what little speed she had draining away.
“It's okay, Rainbow; as long as you keep moving you won't fall,” Twilight assured from behind.
“I was moving last time I fell!” Rainbow shot back, turning so she picked up a little more speed before once again bleeding it off.
“If you fall I'll catch you. We're more than half way down, just a little further to go.”
Rainbow swallowed the nervous pall in her throat. “Right... a little further.”
-_-_-_-
“Good work on your first run, girls,” Twilight announced, once again standing in front of their group. This time Rainbow was off to the side, sitting on a bench with her board resting next to her.
“What happened to her?” Applejack asked, motioning to the pegasus, her head turned down to the snow. “Ah thought you two weren't ever gonna make it down with how slow she was goin'.”
Twilight sighed, coming up with the best half-truth she could to keep Rainbow's secret. “When she fell she injured her hoof. I numbed the pain for her, but to prevent making it worse she had to go slow, and I figured I'd go with her. I'm going to take her back to our room and see if I can't give her some proper medical attention. It's just a sprain so I should be able to heal it today, but she won't be able to go out again until at least tomorrow.
“In the meantime, you girls can keep doing runs on this hill until you're comfortable or go meet up with Fluttershy and have some food. I'll come find you later.” Twilight turned and walked over to Rainbow, her skis carried next to her in a magical glow. “Come on,” she said, motioning for the pegasus to follow as she grabbed the snowboard and bunched it with her skis. “The sooner we treat that sprain the better.”
“Thanks, Twi,” Rainbow mumbled, pushing herself from the bench and limping towards the lodge, keeping weight off her bad hoof.
“And the sooner we get to the room the sooner you tell me why you lied.”
“Oh...”