//------------------------------// // 4: Fork // Story: Thaw // by Hap //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash marched down the cloud, staring down each of the scarf-clad ponies in turn. She stopped in front of Windy, and tugged the end of the filly’s fire-orange scarf a little tighter around her neck. Stepping back, she addressed the group. “All right weather team, listen up! This is our first snow of the year. You know what that means?” Two dozen pegasi searched each others faces for the answer before turning back to Rainbow Dash and giving a collective shrug. Rainbow sighed. “That means everypony isn’t tired of snow yet. Every foal is going to build a snow pony. Every hill is going to have sleds, every park is going to be full of colts and fillies having snowball fights. This snow has to be perfect. It’s going to set the tone for the entire winter. We want fun. We want beautiful. We want… Awesome!” The weather team cheered as Rainbow hovered in front of them with a wide grin. “You all know your positions. Let’s get to it!” As the air filled with pegasus ponies dispersing to the far corners of the sky, Rainbow called out, “Hey, Windy. Hold up a sec.” Windy made a short loop and touched down right where she had taken off a moment ago. “Yeah, Rainbow?” Rainbow landed on the cloud next to her. “Today’s a big day. Are you sure you’re ready for it?” Windy rolled her eyes. “Rainbow, you don’t have to treat me like—” “The youngest, most inexperienced pony working weather today?” “Like—” “A pony who hasn’t even completed the weather team training?” “Like—” “A pony who’s really good at what she does, but prone to getting in trouble when she shows off?” Windy huffed and sat down, crossing her forelegs in front of her chest. Rainbow reached out a wing and pulled her close enough for a noogie. “Aw, come on, squirt. That was me just a few years ago.” She leaned back and left one wing on Windy’s shoulder. “We both know you can handle this. You don’t have to do the whole sky by yourself. You’re not alone out there this time, so be careful.” The cloud came apart in tiny tufts where Windy poked at it with her hoof. She looked up at Rainbow. “I just want ponies to see that I can do something useful.” Her voiced dropped to a barely-audible mumble. “Not just scare them and take their ice cream.” Rainbow was quiet for a moment. “Okay, that was bad.” “It was a disaster!” Rainbow shrugged. “Okay, so it was a disaster. That doesn’t mean you just give up. You gotta keep trying!” Windy sniffed, then rubbed her muzzle with one hoof. “I can’t go back there. I can’t even look at Pinkie Pie.” “You can’t keep hiding up here in the clouds. If you run away from your friends every time you make a mistake, pretty soon you’ll be alone. Really alone.” Rainbow shuddered. “And trust me, that’s not a place you wanna be.” “So, what should I do?” “Well, talking to your friends is never a bad idea. Pinkie said she had something important to tell you, so why don’t you start there?” A tiny smile began creeping its way onto Windy’s face. “I do miss Pinkie.” “Yeah! It’s been like three weeks, I’m sure she misses you too.” She kicked off of the cloud and hovered over the edge, peering into the distance where pegasi were already rounding up clouds and fluffing them into bigger piles. “C’mon, let’s get you to your station and maybe you can be done by dinnertime.” As Windy flapped after her, Rainbow flicked her head to toss her mane out of her eyes and said, “Hey, did I ever tell you about the time that AJ poisoned, like, half the town with these awful muffins? Yeah, by the next day…” Windy kept her head down, trying her best to ignore the ponies clustered around the tables munching on their assorted confections. If their uninterrupted conversation and laughter was any indication, they were completely unconcerned about her presence. Nopony moved to guard their food, though more than one pony she didn’t recognize smiled and waved at her. She rounded the corner by the display case and poked her head into the kitchen. There were mixing bowls waiting to be washed, cupcakes waiting to be iced, and a distinct lack of any pink ponies preparing pastry. The murmur of the dining area disappeared behind her as she stepped into the kitchen. “Pinkie?” The kitchen’s back door opened, and Rarity’s voice came floating in with the crisp winter air. “—solutely gorgeous! I don’t believe I’ve ever seen snow sparkle like that before.” Windy stood motionless, waiting for somepony to notice her. When Pinkie stepped through the doorway, she gasped and nearly bowled Rarity over in her rush to tackle Windy, who was waving meekly with a nervous smile. The rapid-fire string of words was incomprehensible, but Windy understood the hug well enough. After regaining her hooves and greeting Rarity, Windy found it easier to let Pinkie blabber on than to find her own words. At least, until she realized that both ponies were staring at her in silence. Pinkie was nodding her head with half a smile on her muzzle. “Right?” “I, um.” Windy sighed. “Pinkie, I’m sorry.” Pinkie wrapped Windy in another hug. This one was softer, and after a moment Pinkie said, “I was afraid you didn’t like me any more.” Windy pushed Pinkie back far enough to look her in the face. She squinted and tried to peer beneath those sparkling blue eyes. “Pinkie, were you telling me how you feel, or predicting what I was going to say?” Windy’s mouth curled up in a lopsided grin, then she shook her head and said, “It doesn’t matter, does it? I’ll never understand how you work, Pinkie.” “You don’t have to understand it,” Pinkie said. She threw a foreleg around Windy’s shoulders and pulled her close, whispering in a loud, raspy voice, “Because you live it.” “Pinkie, I don’t know what that means.” “I got a letter from a pony who had one of your ice cream cones. You know, from before you went crazy.” Rarity gasped. “Pinkie!” “Aaaaaaaaanyway,” Pinkie said, “she was all super-duper sad until she tasted your ice cream. She said it was, and I quote, ‘Perfect. Just what I needed. It made my day.’ You listened to your heart and you made the perfect recipe for a pony who really needed to smile!” “I…” Windy sat there with her mouth open, trying to remember what it felt like when she had stuck out her tongue and decided to add nutmeg and extra vanilla. Rarity sat down and clopped her front hooves together with a huge smile on her face. “Twilight will be so excited to hear that!” She winked at Windy and added, “She might be just the teensiest-bit jealous, too. She never could figure it out, herself.” Windy said, “Do you think she’ll be proud of me?” Rarity squeezed past Pinkie in the space between the counter and the bank of ovens to give Windy a hug. “Darling, I’m sure she is proud of you already. Which reminds me. Congratulations on your beautiful snowfall! I feel as if I’ve never truly seen snow before.” Windy blushed. “Thanks, but I just did my part on the team.” Pinkie squashed her head in between the two already cramped ponies, her cheeks pressed up against theirs. “Nuh-uh, because Dashie said that you and her spent like three hours working on the weather blueprints!” “Well, Rainbow did most of it. I just took notes and offered a few suggestions.” Rarity shuffled backward, giving everypony a little bit of breathing room and herself enough room to flounce her curls back into shape. “Regardless, I say it’s something worth celebrating. I’d like to treat you to dinner at that new restaurant, Sativum. I think it would be a great place to practice your table manners. Don’t make that face.” Suppressing a grumble, Windy straightened her ears and put on a serene smile. “That’s better. Have you ever had a formal five-course meal before?” Windy shook her head. “I’m honestly not sure what that means.” Pinkie raised one hoof as if she was in a classroom. “I don’t think I know what it means, either.” Rarity managed to make gritting her teeth together look like a dainty smile. “I’m sure you’ll love it, darling.” “That sounds nice.” The kitchen’s back door opened in a shimmer of blue magic as Rarity swept a hoof in front of her. “Shall we?” As the pair trotted out the door, Pinkie called out, “Remember, Windy! A lady always wears her life jacket for the soup course!” Rarity froze, and her eye twitched a few times before she took a deep breath and resumed walking. Windy giggled and waved goodbye to Pinkie as the door closed. A slender fork lifted a miniscule portion of creamy spinach pastry to Windy’s mouth before it silently returned to the table. A napkin took its place, rising up to dab at her muzzle and then lowering again. Windy looked across the table at Rarity, trying to look like she wasn’t looking. Rarity nodded, then scrunched her eyebrows and tilted her head sideways. “Windy, dear, are you sitting up straight?” Windy swallowed her food and straightened her spine, lifting her chin at just the angle she remembered from her lessons. Rarity squinted and tapped her fork on the table. “Is it just my imagination, or are you getting taller?” While Rarity took a bite, Windy nodded energetically and said, “Yeah, Apple Bloom says that I ‘been growin’ like a weed’ and that pretty soon I won’t fit in the Crusaders’ clubhouse, which I’m pretty sure is hyperbole, because—” “Windy.” Rarity waited for the little pony to look at her. “Please use your indoor voice. Other ponies are having their own conversations.” “I’m sorry, miss Rarity.” Rarity followed Windy’s gaze out the window to the still-falling snow that was now reflecting the brilliant colors of the sunset. Ponies still wandered in the streets; couples enjoying the sunset, colts and fillies trying to eke the last moments of fun from dwindling daylight. While they were enjoying the view, a stallion in a collar and tie stopped by the table to take away their plates. Windy turned around just in time to see him walk away with her plate. Her eyes widened as she shrieked, “NO! That’s my—” “WINDY!” Rarity shouted as she stood up. “It’s okay, darling. Hush, hush. There are four more courses on their way. There is plenty of food, dear.” Patrons of Sativum slowly turned back to their own plates, though some let wary glances remain on the agitated filly for longer than she would have liked. Rarity finished stroking Windy’s mane and returned to her own cushion at the table. With a groan, Windy covered her face with her hooves and mumbled, “I’m so sorry, Rarity.” “It’s quite alright,” Rarity said as she smiled disarmingly at other diners. A waiter trotted up to the table, perhaps a bit more quickly than normal, and set two bowls of creamy soup on the table. Windy smiled in the least-threatening way she could manage, and apologized for her outburst. The waiter bowed slightly and returned her smile before leaving the way he came. Windy’s eyes traced over the utensils on either side of the shallow bowl. She glanced up at Rarity, then lifted the spoon on the far right of the place setting. Rarity followed suit, and soon both were silently eating their second course. After a few minutes, Rarity cleared her throat and said, “Windy, a lady does not clean her plate.” Windy sighed, and left her spoon in the half-empty bowl. “Yeah, I remember.” When the waiter came to clear the dishes for the next course, Windy had to nudge the bowl in his direction before he would take it. While they waited for the entrée, Rarity asked, “So, you gave away some ice cream and made some ponies very happy. How does that make you feel?” “I’m glad that Pinkie is proud of me. But it still feels… I don’t know. Bad. Like I’m sending food the wrong way.” “There are a lot of ponies who enjoyed your generosity. Isn’t that worth something?” “What do other ponies have to do with it? Can’t they take care of themselves?” Rarity shook her head and glanced at the ponies surrounding them. “You heard what Pinkie said. One pony was having a bad day, and you made her day better. Sometimes, a pony just needs other ponies. That’s what friends are for.” “But whoever that pony is, she wasn’t my friend. She’s just somepony I don’t know.” A grin spread across Rarity’s face. “But now, I bet that she would consider you a friend. You’ve got lots of new friends that you haven’t even met, just because you made their day a little better.” “Is that why so many ponies smiled and waved when I went into Sugarcube Corner?” They both leaned back as the waiter placed a pair of salads before them. Rarity nodded and said, “That may very well be. Generosity can accomplish great things.” Windy thought for a while, rolling a cherry tomato around her salad by poking at it with her fork. “So, giving things away makes ponies like me, so that they’ll be nice to me and then be generous to me?” Rarity frowned. “Yes and no. If you give something away in order to curry favor, that isn’t generosity, that’s bribery. Generosity makes you a better pony, and that makes ponies like you more. It’s true that they may be generous to you later, but that’s the power of friendship. Surely you appreciate that making other ponies happy is its own reward?” “No. I guess I just don’t get it.” Her fork stabbed through a tomato, spearing several layers of lettuce below. Windy stuffed the huge bite of vegetables into her mouth. Rarity took the hint and resumed eating her own dinner. Rarity yawned as they ascended the crystal staircase. “Goodness, we’ve had quite the night, haven’t we?” Windy nodded. “Thanks for dinner. It was wonderful, when I wasn’t screaming at the waiter.” “Yes, it was. And thank you for the stunning landscape on the walk back! I had no idea that snow in the moonlight could be so brilliant.” As they stepped into the hallway at the top of the stairs, they could see orange light spilling out of the fireside room. Windy trotted inside while Rarity stayed by the doorway. Twilight looked up from where she was seated on the couch. Her jaw was set and her eyes were hard. “Windy. Have a seat.” Rarity took a few steps into the room to put a hoof on Windy’s shoulder. “Twilight, I’m sorry if I kept her out too late. I take full responsibility.” Twilight shook her head. “Thank you, Rarity, but that’s not the problem. I need to talk to Windy alone, please.” A quick hug and goodbye from Rarity, and Windy was left all alone with Twilight. She shuffled into the room, her mind running through every possibility. As she rounded the couch, she saw a large pile of food on the floor, and her heart dropped into her stomach. Twilight’s voice was cold. “You lied to me.”