A shout of, “Whee-hehehe!” preceded the sled as a certain little filly raced down the snow-covered hill. Powdered snow flew past her face as she and her two passengers ramped a small cliff—landing with synchronized grunts before continuing on down in their slide.
“Whoo hoo!” shouted the changeling as he held his forelegs up high. “This is so much fun!”
Trixie laughed as she steered them away from an incoming tree. “You’re right, Cuddles! I’m so glad Daddy let me go sledding today!”
“Trixie! Watchout for that tree!” cried her other passenger.
With a squeak, Trixie pulled on the rope of her sled, grazing past the evergreen tree with only a few pine needles to show for the effort.
Trixie laughed as they sped down the hill. “Don’t worry, Lulu, I’m a good driv—”
“Snowbank!” the other two shouted before the little sled crashed headlong into a mound of snow, launching the trio through the air. Flailing about, the three vanished in an explosion of cold, powdery snow.
When the snow settled, Trixie popped her head from underneath, still giggling. “Sorry!”
Lulu was the next to pop up from the snow, the off-white mare wiping at her eyes as the snow clung to her pink mane. “Ugh, Trixie, you said you’d be careful.”
Trixie shook the snow from her coat before readjusting her pink and white striped scarf. “I was careful, Lulu. I hit the snow instead of the stream, right?”
Lulu looked over at the nearby, not-quite frozen stream and shuddered. “I guess…”
“Haha!” laughed a giddy Cuddles as he erupted from the snow. “That was the best ever!” He tackled Trixie into a tight hug, nuzzling against her cheek. “You sure know how to have fun, Trixie!”
Trixie squirmed under the crushing embrace. “Cuddles… too...tight!”
The changeling’s eyes widened and he let her go. “Sorry! Sorry! Just got excited!”
“You always get over excited about hugs,” Lulu said as she helped Trixie back to her hooves, giving the changeling an admonishing stare.
“It’s an addiction…”
Trixie shook her head, snowflakes sticking to her bangs. “It’s all right, Cuddles. Just don’t squeeze so hard, it’s hard to breathe when you do.”
The changeling’s shoulders slumped, his gaze lowering too. “I said I was sorry…”
She smiled brightly before giving her friend a hug. “It’s all right, I forgive you.”
He hummed and nuzzled her. “Hugs are the best.”
Lulu gave her mane a toss, a few pine needles falling free. “How about we head back and get some hot cocoa, Trixie? You have to be getting cold by now, and I bet Daddy is getting worried.”
Trixie sniffed and rubbed at her nose, looking at all of the pine trees and their branches that were weighed with snow. “Yeah, it is getting kinda cold.”
“Can’t we go down the hill one more time?” Cuddles asked, looking between the two. “Just once more before we call it a day?”
A frown tugged at Lulu’s lips. “Cuddles, we don’t want Trixie to get a cold.”
He smiled at her. “She’s fine, Lulu. Besides, what’s one more slide?”
“Another dunk in the snow, that’s what,” Lulu protested as she stood tall. “Come on, Trixie, let’s get the sled and get some hot chocolate. I bet Daddy even has some cookies waiting for us too.”
The little filly beamed at the idea of warm peanut butter cookies waiting for her. “Okay!”
She stopped as she felt something cling to her back leg. Looking back, she saw Cuddles give her the wide, sad eyes routine. “Pleeeeeeease, just once more? I’m not ready to go back yet! One more time and then we’ll have all the hot chocolate and peanut butter cookies we could want!”
Her tummy gave off a small growl and she placed a hoof over it. “I don’t know…”
“PAHLEEEEEAAAAASE!” the changeling pleaded, clinging to her leg tighter.
Giggling, she nodded. “Okay, one more time, then we get cookies!”
“Yay!” Cuddle’s wings beat so fast as to whirl up the loose snow.
Lulu spat as she got a fresh coat of snow all over her. “Cuddles!”
Trixie laughed again before she gathered the sled’s rope in her magic. “Come on. Let’s see how fast we can go this time.”
As Trixie pulled the slide behind her—Lulu and Cuddles both walking beside her—she couldn’t help but wonder what her Daddy was doing. She remembered how he smiled when she begged him to stay home for the day so she could enjoy the snow a bit longer before school. At first he was firm that she was going, but a few sad looks and a little kiss later, and her father caved in like a cavern.
“I’m so glad Daddy let me go sledding. I wonder what all the other foals are doing right now instead of having fun like us?” she asked as they climbed back up the hill.
“Probably sitting around bored, listening to the teacher talk,” Cuddles said as he looked over at her. “Prof. Inkwell likes to talk a lot, doesn’t she?”
“But she’s funny,” Lulu said as they looked back down the path that lead to home. “She tells some funny stories and we know you enjoy them, Trixie.”
She sniffed and lifted her nose. “Yeah, but her’s aren’t as good as Daddy’s.”
“Mm-hm.” The other two nodded.
“Still, I wonder what I missed today?” Trixie said as the made the top of the hill, letting the rope fall to the ground.
“Oh, come on, Trixie!” Cuddles said as he buzzed his wings. “We’re about to have fun and you’re thinking of school?” He hopped on the sled and made room for them. “Come on, let’s see how fast we can go.”
As Trixie bit her lip, Lulu glanced over at her. “Are you sure about this, Trixie?”
Trixie peered down the hill again, looking first at their snow path they made earlier and then at her home that wasn’t all that far away. “Well, we did climb all the way up here, didn’t we?”
“You’re not scared, are you?” Cuddles asked, a timbre of worry making itself into his tone.
She shook her head quickly, standing tall. “The Great and Powerful Trixie isn’t scared! She’s just thinking of the best way to go down faster.”
“That’s the spirit!” Cuddles said as he squirmed on the sled.
“Trixie…” Lulu said, her voice soft as she watched her best friend.
The filly nodded. “Get on, Lulu. We’re going to show the hill just how amazing we are!”
As Lulu took her place behind Cuddles, Trixie took the rope in her magic as she sat in the front. “Are you ready?”
Cuddles nodded, a wide smile on his face. Lulu frowned and opened her mouth to speak, but before she could say anything, Trixie dug her leg into the snow and kicked. With a crunch of snow, the sled began its trek down the hill again to the excited laughter of a little filly.
As her friends cheered for her, Trixie leaned forward, staring down the hill as if were a challenge to be met. Even as the snow sprayed out in their wake, her tongue poked out of the corner of her mouth as she tried to get the sled to go faster.
“Faster, Trixie, faster!” Cuddles cheered.
“Slower, Trixie, slower!” Lulu cried. “We’re going too fast!”
“It’s okay, Lulu!” she yelled back. “I’ve got everything under control!”
Just as she finished, they ramped over a small hump on the hill and Trixie looked over her shoulder at a frightened squeak. She saw Lulu fly off the sled to go rolling down the hill.
“Lulu!”
Cuddles pointed ahead. “Trixie! The stream!”
Her gaze darted back just in time to see herself fly for the cold water.
-0-
“Of all the things you could have ran into, Beatrice Lulamoon, the stream was perhaps the worst one—minus a tree,” her father scolded as he carried a bowl of warm soup into her room. “What were you thinking going down the hill so fast you couldn’t control the sled?”
Trixie moaned and rolled over to look at him, shivering under her blankets. “I’m sorry, Daddy,” she said past the thermometer that poked out of her mouth, a loud sniff escaping her.
“You should be, little missy.” He sat the bowl down and lifted the thermometer to peer at the level. “And you’re running a temperature, you likely caught a cold too.”
A squeak of a sneeze escaped her, and she sniffed. “I was just having some fun.”
He groaned as he rubbed a hoof over his face, sitting on the side of her bed. “Trixie, I…” he sighed before running a hoof over her cheek. “What am I going to do with you? I don’t mind you having fun, Sweat Pea, but you shouldn’t take unnecessary risks over stuff like that.” He let his hoof fall back to his side as he smiled at her. “Save that for the stage, and even then, you have to be careful. I don’t want to hear about you getting hurt because of a stunt, okay?”
She nodded and snuggled up with her stuffed mare. “Lulu and Cuddles were with me too, shouldn’t they be in trouble too?”
He looked first at the doll she held, then at the stuffed changeling that still smelled of the stream on a chair nearby. “They both look sorry enough, Trixie, but you are the one who is going to be in bed for a couple days.” He floated over a spoon and dipped into the broth. “Open your mouth.”
As she ‘awed’, he carefully tipped the steaming soup into her mouth. He repeated the process until she shook her head.
“I’m full, Daddy,” she said before a little belch escaped her. Her eyes widened and she put a hoof over her mouth. “‘Scuse me.”
A smile again tugged at the corners of his mouth as he put the spoon back in the bowl. “Well, you should rest, Sweat Pea, it’s getting late. Is there anything else you need?”
She tilted her head a bit before asking, “A bedtime story?”
Laughing, he stood to collect the bowl and thermometer. “All right, let me put this away and I’ll be right back.”
As her father stepped out of her room, she snuggled a bit deeper into her bed, holding on to Lulu as she did. Getting settled, she shot a glare at the stuffed changeling nearby.
“I blame you, Cuddles,” she said before another little sneeze took her.