Secrets

by Aqua_Breeze

Real friends

"What do you mean 'what's a snowball fight'?" Scootaloo asked.

"My parents always kept me inside when it snowed," Aurora explained, "So I never got to experience any winter games".

"Wow, that sucks," Scootaloo said.

"Well, don't worry, we'll teach ya," Applebloom said.

"Does that mean what I think it does?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS WINTER GAME TEACHERS!" The original trio yelled.

Over the past twenty four hours, Aurora was able to confirm that her disguise allowed for her to survive winter without hibernating. This fact made her very happy because now she could see what winter was actually like... and she'd be doing it with her friends. Twilight also asked Rarity make Aurora a nice winter outfit so she'd be able to stay warm while playing outside... a request the posh unicorn could not possibly say no to. The design was tailored to Aurora's two favorite colors: midnight blue, and aquamarine. Now, all nice and cozy, Aurora was going to learn from the crusaders what ponies do during winter.

"So, you just throw balls of snow at each other?" Aurora asked.

"Well... yea," Applebloom said, "Sometimes ponies build walls and fight that way, but we just try to keep outta the way of any flying snowballs".

"So... simple, but it does kinda sound fun," Aurora said before taking a snowball to the face.

"Score!" Scootaloo called out.

"Don't celebrate too fast," Aurora said before tossing a snowball towards her pegasus friend, "Catch!".

All it ever takes is one thrown snowball and then a war breaks out. Cold, white spheres flew through the air here, there, and everywhere as the crusaders went about having a good snowball fight. Sometimes a snowball would miss the intended target, and another random pony would become a victim. After a few minutes, a random snowball hit Aurora in the back of the head... but the other crusaders were all in front of her. When she turned to see who the offender is, she saw a little purple dragon holding a snowball in his left claw. A grin creped across Aurora's muzzle as she got her own snowball ready to meet Spike's face. Now, there was five in the snowball fight... but, the more the merrier.

After almost an hour, the five friends were finally starting to become exhausted, and a little hungry. While the original crusader trio wanted to go to Sugarcube Corner, Aurora wanted to head back to the castle. She wanted to see if her friends could enjoy her food. It wasn't her kitchen day, but she didn't care. She'd take the kitchen by force if she had to. What she really wanted to do was try out a new recipe she'd come up with just yesterday. She'd figured at the time that if she could survive without hibernating, that she should come up with some winter specialty dishes.

---

"This is really good!" Applebloom said.

"What'd you say this is again?" Scootaloo asked.

"Cinnamon apple soup," Aurora said.

"Well, it's amazing," Scootaloo said, "And I'm not just saying that because I'm your friend, I really do mean it".

"If you make food like this all the time, I'm surprised you haven't gotten your cutie mark yet," Sweetie Belle said, "It seems like this is your special talent after all".

A cutie mark... something Aurora knew she'd never actually get. Changelings only ever get cutie marks if the pony they disguise themselves as has one. Being disguised as a blank flank filly, however, meant that she'd never get a cutie mark of her own. Kind of ironic seeing as she's a cutie mark crusader.

"And ya say ya came up with this on your own?" Applebloom asked.

"Yea," Aurora said, "Just a little idea that popped into my head yesterday. I've been waiting to actually make it".

"Yea, well just remember that you owe me a day," Spike said.

"Yea, yea, whatever," Aurora said, rolling her eyes.

"So, what do you do after we finish this?" Scootaloo asked.

"Well, we could show Aurora how to ice skate," Sweetie Belle said.

"Yea, we could," Scootaloo said, "Provided Applebloom here doesn't try ice skating on her belly this time".

"Ya said we'd forget about that!" Applebloom cried out.

"Look on the bright side," Aurora said, "You'll probably have a belly sliding buddy with me around".

Applebloom just huffed and turned her back to the others.

---

Learning how to fight with snowballs is easy, learning how to skate on ice... not so much. Aurora tried and tried to keep her balance, but never could. She eventually tried using her wings to balance, and it worked for a bit. She had broken her previous record of staying upright now. As she was making a very tight turn, she stretched out her right wing to try and keep herself heavier on the side she wasn't turning in on. She didn't move fast enough, however, and collapsed right onto her left wing. As she slid across the ice, she couldn't help but cry out. It only made sense for her friends to rush over and help her.

"Ya alright!?" Applebloom asked, obviously worried.

"Not really," Aurora cried, "I just fell flat on my wing".

"Well, that can only feel good," Scootaloo said sarcastically, earning her scornful stares from the others.

"Ya can at least get up, right?" Applebloom asked.

"Not with these ice skates," Sweetie Belle said before using her magic to take Aurora's ice skates off her hooves.

As soon as the first skate was off, Sweetie Belle froze, her eyes widening at the sight before her. When the pain flew through Aurora's body, her focus faltered, and her disguise was starting to fail as a result.

"Sweetie Belle, what's wrong?" Applebloom asked.

"Look at her hoof," Sweetie Belle said, obviously afraid.

"What about-" Applebloom said, cutting herself off at the new sight.

After taking notice of her own chitin hoof, Aurora went into panic mode. She took off the other skates as quickly as she could so she could run back to the castle with ease. Upon arriving at the castle, she ran up to her room, shut and locked the door, plopped down on her bed and started to cry. She forgot completely about the pain in her side, and focused on what had just happened. Her disguise had started to slip, and now her friends knew the truth. She could only come up with one possible outcome for this: the crusaders would now be too afraid to be around her... and that alone hurt worse than the pain in her side.

---

"Aurora, you in there?" Called a familiar voice from the hallway.

After seeing Aurora's chitin hoof, the crusaders ran towards where Twilight was supposed to be for the day to let her know what was going on. They were scared because they thought Aurora had been filly napped and that another Changeling invasion was on it's way. After hearing what happened, Twilight just sighed. It wasn't Aurora's fault that her secret was now known by three more ponies, but it was still frustrating all the same. However, Twilight knew she'd have to tell the three fillies the truth if there was any chance of Aurora keeping them as friends.

"Aurora, come on, open up," Twilight called as she knocked on the door again.

There was an audible click as the door unlocked. No sooner had the opened, had it slammed shut, however. As soon as Aurora had opened the door, she was greeted with the faces of her friends, and it scared her. She didn't have enough time to lock the door before took a hold of the handle and twisted it, making it impossible for the lock to move into place. As the door swung open, Aurora began to run, but was caught in Twilight's magic. Her friends wanted to talk to her, and Twilight was going to see to it that they had the chance. Defeated, Aurora sat down and stared right at the floor.

"How's uh... how's the wing?" Scootaloo asked.

No response.

"Can we uh... can we see what ya really look like?" Applebloom asked.

Again, no response.

"Look, Twilight told us what's going on," Sweetie Belle said, "And to be honest... it's actually kind of cool".

That caught Aurora's attention, and she looked up with tears flowing from her eyes.

"You're just saying that cause Twilight's right there, aren't you?" Aurora asked between sobs.

"Changeling or not, you're one of us," Scootaloo said, "Yea, we were scared at first, but that's just cause we thought the real you had been filly napped".

"But then Twilight told us ya've been a Changeling all along," Applebloom said, "And that means ya are the real Aurora... and our friend".

No response was given as Aurora just stared back at the floor.

"Changeling or not, you're one of us, a crusader, and one of the best friends any of us have ever had," Scootaloo said, "And that's never gonna change, got it?".

"You... you really mean that?" Aurora asked between sobs.

"Yes, I mean it," Scootaloo said.

"As do I," Applebloom said.

"And don't forget about me," Sweetie Belle said.

"Just stop crying already and get over here," Scootaloo said.

Aurora could help it. As a smile began to creep along her muzzle, she slid over to the three fillies. When she got close enough, they all wrapped her up in a tight embrace. They weren't going anywhere, and neither was the friendship bond they all shared.

"Thanks so much, girls," Aurora said, "I uh... this really means a lot to me".

"Once a crusader, always a crusader," Scootaloo said.

"Now, would it be too much ta ask fer some more cinnamon apple soup?" Applebloom asked.

As she walked down to the kitchen with the others, she couldn't help but carry a big smile on her muzzle. Her friends were there, willing to accept her being a Changeling. It was obvious they still cared about her based on the love energy she was being flooded with. This was the happiest she'd ever been, even more so than when Twilight took her in, even more so than when Spike finally accepted her as his sister. She still had her friends, and, no matter what, that wasn't ever going to change.

Author's Note:

If you wanna know what cinnamon apple soup is, it's really simple. Chop up some cinnamon apple slices and place a handful into a bowl of wassail and let it sit for a bit to let the cinnamon from the chopped up apple slices mix with the wassail a little bit. After about 2-3 minutes, put a dab of whipped cream in, stir it up, then partake in your new tasty concoction.