1. Recruitment
Of Sky and Snow
Chapter one
Recruitment
Dear Princess Celestia, today I learned…
Dear Princess Celestia, today I learned…
Dear Princess Celestia, today I learned…
Dear Princess Celestia, today I learned…
“GAH! It’s no use! I haven’t learned anything in nearly two months! Where’s a god of chaos when you need him? How about another evil queen trying to take over something? At least it would be something!” Twilight shouted in frustration, crumpling and throwing her latest blank letter to the over-full trash bin sitting next to her desk, only to bounce off the pile of parchment and fly to the floor. It was pointless; nothing interesting had happened for over a month and nothing friendship-report worthy in two! As much as she enjoyed living in the sleepy little town with her friends, and as much as she liked the reprieve from some form of danger or chaos, it left very little to write to Celestia about. And it was starting to show. After a month of nothing, Celestia sent her a letter asking if everything was going alright. It was, Twilight had assured her, just nothing special or noteworthy had happened. Of course, just like before, Celestia had been more then understanding about it, telling her that she should appreciate the break, and she did… for a while. But now? Now she was bored. Nothing happened. EVER. It was starting to wear on her.
She glared coldly at the quill in her magical grasp, spinning it around in a light purple glow, willing it to write a letter. A letter she just couldn’t write herself. Then, as if the universe itself was against her letters, there was a knock on the door. The sudden sound caused her to lose her focus, the quill clattering down onto the desk.
“At least it’s something,” she grumbled under her breath, getting up from her desk and walking through her library to the door, nearly tripping over a purple and green mass. Closer inspection revealed it to be Spike, sleeping half way under the table, an empty box of cookies clutched in his claws. Twilight did nothing but shake her head, making a mental note to scold him later for eating an entire box.
Sighing as another round of knocks sounded, she continued her journey to the door, opening it effortlessly with a flick of her horn. The action revealed nothing special, the same green grass, the same peaceful street, the same quiet town. The only difference was the difference that showed up every week; the mail. And, of course, the delivery system for that mail was there as well.
“Hey Ditzy, how’s work?” Twilight asked, not particularly interested in any mail she might receive.
“Good; I just got a raise, so I can drop my second job at the moving company,” the light grey mare replied happily, brushing a strand of her blond mane out of her face as she reached into her mail bag with a wing, extracting a stack of letters a few moments later.
“Anything interesting today?” Ditzy asked as Twilight took the letters in her magic and began rummaging through them.
“Junk… junk… junk, same as last week.” Twilight frowned slightly, though in reality she wasn’t expecting anything different. It’s not like the Princess would send a letter of emergency through regular mail.
“Oh well, I’ll see you around, Twilight.” Ditzy waved goodbye as she flew up into the air, continuing her route as normal. Just like every other week. There was never anything interesting in the mail, never anything different about anypony in the town. Even Pinkie’s parties were starting to become a routine task every week or so. Nothing new or exciting had happened in far too long. Even the books in her library no longer distracted her, since she had read them all at least twice, and her new orders from Canterlot were put on backorder a week ago. It was like the entire town was stuck in a rut.
Twilight sighed dejectedly, returning inside her home as she read her mail. Junk. That’s all it was; pointless, useless junk. There weren’t even any bills! Just as she was about to discard them to their fate in her trash bin, however, a picture on one of them caught her eye. It was nothing special; just another cheep-but-not-really-that-cheep vacation pamphlet. The picture itself was of a snow-covered log cabin on a background of a snowy mountain. The caption read ‘Snowy Day’s Winter Wonder Resort’.
It had been a long time since she had been on an actual vacation, even longer since she had been skiing. Being raised in Canterlot, quit literally on a mountain, she used to ski every winter. While the side Canterlot was built on was nothing but a sheer rock cliff, the other side was actually relatively smooth; the perfect place for a ski resort. She used to love skiing as a filly, it was one of the very few physical activities she was both good at and enjoyed.
A smile crossed her lips as she thought back to one of her many family vacations to the ski lodge on the mountain. It was her first time going there, and she was terrified. It took the entire family to even get her into the skis in the first place, and she flat out refused to go on the lift. Only after an hour of reassurance and promises from her brother had she agreed to go up, and only on one condition; if she fell, Shining would catch her. It was a deal he agreed to without hesitance, his confidence gave her the last little nudge to actually go up.
Her first run was what you would expect from somepony who had never been skiing before; a lot of falling. Every time she fell though, Shining would catch her and bring her back up to the top of the smallest hill at the resort. It was by no means steep nor was it long, but getting back up with skis on was near impossible. After a few falls and a lot of advice from her brother, she eventually made it to the bottom crash-free, a huge grin on her face.
After that she practically begged her parents to go every year, and they did. It became a regular thing for her family. She had gone down every run on that mountain at least three times by the time she got her cutie mark. After that she was accepted into Celestia’s school, and her family ski trips all but faded from existence. She was lucky to get out one day a year, compared to the week-long vacations they used to take. It saddened her that she hadn’t been out in such a long time, and she knew Shining hadn’t been out since getting into the guard. She missed it.
Then she got an idea; why not go on another vacation? It might be the middle of spring, but the more modern places had magical snow machines that kept them open year-round, and she was positive her friends would enjoy a vacation as much as she would. It would be something different, something to dull the monotony of her life as of late. And who knows, maybe she could get a friendship report out of it. With that settled she set the mail down on her table and trotted out her door, a happy bounce in her step as she went to recruit her friends on the impromptu vacation.
-_-_-_-
“I’m sorry, Twilight, but I got a lot of work to do on the farm.” Applejack’s reply was exactly what Twilight thought she would say, so she had the perfect counter for it.
“I can take over for a few days, AJ.”
Excellent, Big Mac played his part perfectly. Good thing he still owed Twilight that favour.
“Are ya sure?” Applejack asked uncertainly, looking between Twilight and her brother.
“Eeyup.”
“But-”
“It isn’t harvest season yet,” Big Mac reminded, earning an approving smile from Twilight. Applejack opened her mouth as if to say something, and then shut it again before thinking.
“But what if-” Applejack began to protest again, only for her brother to interject.
“If something breaks, I can fix it,” he said calmly.
“But what about-”
“I can take care of the stall during the day, and Granny has been feeling better so she can look after Applebloom.”
“But…” Applejack paused, trying to think of another argument or responsibility she couldn’t leave behind. Coming up blank, she turned back to Twilight. “I guess a little R n’ R could be nice.”
“Excellent.” Twilight clapped her hooves together happily before turning to get the next pony on her list, saying “Meet at the library tonight at 5.” over her shoulder before trotting down the dirt path out of the farm.
She had visited Applejack first, knowing full well she would be nearly impossible to convince. Luckily Big Mac owed her a favour, and he was more then capable of taking care of the farm for a few days without Applejack. It was almost too perfect.
Now she just had to get her other four friends, though that shouldn’t be too hard. Pinkie’s always up for some fun, especially the unplanned kind. Rarity always loved winter fashion, and she was closing her shop for a few days anyway for a much needed break. Rainbow Dash was up for any kind of sport, and her weather team could do without her for a few days. The only one that could give some trouble was Fluttershy; Twilight doubted she would be overly happy about doing something that could be viewed as dangerous. Still, there was nothing saying Fluttershy had to ski, at the very least she could lounge around the lodge and the hot tub, and maybe meet a few new animal friends.
After a few minutes of walking she arrived at Sugar Cube Corner. She opened the door and walked in, the chiming of a bell announcing her entry. She scanned the front room of the bakery for a moment before noticing the fact that it was empty.
“Pinkie?” She called out, taking a few more steps into the room. As soon as she got to the centre she felt her hoof hit something. Looking down, she noticed a nearly invisible wire that she had inadvertently stepped on. Following it with her eyes, she eventually found herself staring straight at a catapult, with what looked like batter in the bowl, ready to be flung directly at her.
“Oh no.” She closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable. Then she heard the click of the spring being released, followed by the noise of the catapult firing it’s ammunition of batter. She took a breath and held it, closing her mouth moments before the batter collided with her face, spraying out in all directions. When the metaphorical smoke cleared she opened her eyes. Half of the front room was covered in the thick, sticky batter, along with her face and a good percentage of her body. Her eyes were drawn to a laughing beige batter monster next to the catapult.
“Pinkie…” Twilight growled, glaring at the pile of batter. A second later a pink tongue came out of nowhere and licked pretty much all of it off her body, revealing the bright pink mare behind the prank.
“Hey Twilight, is something… battering, you?” The terrible pun caused Pinkie to fall back onto the floor in laughter.
“Hilarious,” Twilight spat sarcastically, “But I need to talk to you about something.”
“What did you need?” Pinkie asked happily, though still somehow seriously. Despite the chaos around her she still managed to look responsible. She really had matured since the Cake twins.
“I was wondering if you could take a little vacation. I’m gathering up all the girls, and I was thinking about going on a ski trip.” Twilight’s horn lit up from under the batter, the glow spreading from one spot on her forehead to everywhere there was batter on her body. After a second of concentration every last drop was pulled from her coat and gathered in a ball next to her.
“A ski trip? I haven’t been skiing in a long time… sounds like fun, I’m in!” Pinkie nodded excitedly, drawing a smile from Twilight.
“Excellent, meet me back at the library at 5 o’clock. Now I just need three more. But before I go…” Twilight smiled, glancing once to the ball of batter before looking back at Pinkie. The pink pony followed her eyes to the gooey mess before once again meeting Twilight’s. Before she could dive for cover twilight launched the batter at her, landing a direct hit and covering her completely. Satisfied with her revenge Twilight trotted happily out of the bakery, leaving Pinkie to deal with the giant batter mess she had created, which she did with gusto… and her tongue.
-_-_-_-
“Oh darling that sounds wonderful, I would love to accompany you. I’ve been meaning to take a little ‘me’ time for a while now.”
Just as Twilight had expected, Rarity was easy to convince. She didn’t even need to persuade her any. This was going to be easy; even Fluttershy agreed after a little bit of coaxing and the promise that she didn’t actually have to ski. But Rarity accepting left her with one other pony to get on board. That one pony that was always hard to find unless you were a pegasus.
“Great, now if you’ll excuse me, I need to find Rainbow Dash, meet me and the rest of the girls at the library at 5 tonight.” Twilight said as she walked back out the door.
“Of course, dear, I’ll be there.” Rarity waved a hoof dismissively; returning to whatever it was she was doing before Twilight had arrived.
As Twilight walked she kept her eyes trained on the sky above Ponyville, looking for any possible places for a certain slacking weather pegasus to take a nap. Namely a cloud. Unfortunately, it looked as if she had actually done her job, as there was not a single cloud within sight. Twilight wandered around the town, eyes focused intently on the light blue sky her pegasus friend called home, searching for the tell tale rainbow trail she normally left in her wake.
She checked everywhere she could possibly think of, Rainbow’s house, the field outside of Ponyville where she normally practised, and Sweet Apple Acres, where she normally took her naps if there weren’t any clouds. Anywhere Rainbow Dash would normally be found was checked and double checked with no clues as to the rainbow maned mare’s current location.
Twilight grunted in frustration as she rounded another corner, finding herself exactly where she had started; her library. Only this time, there was one minor detail that had not been there before; a cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane sat in front of her door, hoof half raised as if she was debating whether or not to knock. Twilight just stared curiously at the pegasus. Her wings were twitching, as if begging her to fly away and her one raised hoof was shaking so bad Twilight could see it even at a distance. After a few moments, Rainbow Dash hung her head and lowered her hoof. She turned around and began walking slowly away from the tree, only to spot the owner of said tree. She froze dead in her tracks as their eyes met; Twilight could have sworn she even saw a blush start to form. Deciding she had had enough, Twilight trotted up to mare she had been searching for almost all day.
“Uh… hey, Twilight, I was just… uh… stopping by to say… hi?” She said hopefully, unaware of how much Twilight had actually seen. Her wings were still fully extended; her body obviously wanted her to run.
“Then why were you sitting in front of my house without knocking? Or doing anything, for that matter?” Twilight gave her an expectant look, waiting for an actual answer that could explain the odd behaviour.
“No reason…” Dash rubbed her hooves together nervously; sweat beginning to form on her brow. Twilight just looked at her for a second before sighing and shaking her head, deciding that she wasn’t going to get any new information if Rainbow didn’t want to give it to her.
“Fine, but I need to talk to you.”
Rainbow’s heart skipped a beat at those words. She needed to talk? About what? Did she know? How could she possibly know? Was she that obvious?
“A-about what?” Dash managed to squeak out.
“A little get away.” Twilight answered happily, the words allowing Rainbow to breathe a sigh of relief. She was safe for a while longer.
“Get away? Sure… where too?” She couldn’t help the little bit of disappointment that slipped into her voice. For a moment she regretted that Twilight didn’t know; it would make her life easier, and it could be over with so much faster and with less awkwardness.
“I was thinking a going on a ski trip for a few days, the other girls have already agreed. So what do you say?”
“Sure, I could go for a break.” Dash answered calmly, her normal confidence returning now that she was sure her secret was safe for another day.
“Great, now that all six of us are coming, I need to start making a plan. Meet back at the library at five tonight.” Twilight smiled and trotted up the path to her library happily, though she stopped when another thought returned to her mind.
“Hey Rainbow, why were you-” Twilight turned to look back at the pegasus, only to see an empty space where she used to be. “-here…” She just sighed and walked into the library. There was no point in trying to get Dash to talk about something she obviously didn’t want to talk about. Besides, she still had a lot of planning to do.
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Yay!! It's here! I can't wait to see more of this! Best of luck writing it!
3144771
Seriously, I got the message that this passed moderation like 20 seconds ago, you're like a vulture waiting for your pray to drop dead... or in this case get released to the site.
3144775
Nah, I just reloaded my notifications page at the perfect moment. But supposedly I'm the "Lurker in Training" and what-not.
3144780 oh dear God no!
3144974
What? Don't freak out bro.
3144976
where all doomed
3145002
How so? It was in one of my blogs. You can give that a look. Skeeter even...kind of agrees.
Nice start! Maybe a clinical but that's Twilight...
I really hope for more very soon!
And soooo many Super Saiyan Rainbow Dashs in the comments...
3145112 haters be hatin'
3145401
there.
I don't hate... I like! Maybe I should've added a
Does that help instead?
derpicdn.net/media/W1siZiIsIjIwMTIvMDYvMjAvMDNfNDVfMDJfMTQxXzEwOTc3X190d2lsaWdodF9zcGFya2xlX3JhaW5ib3dfZGFzaF9zYWZlX2FuZ3J5X2ZpcmVfYXJ0aXN0X2NlbGVzdGlhdGhlZ3JlYXRlc3QiXV0/10977__safe_twilight-sparkle_rainbow-dash_angry_fire_rapidash_element-of-loyalty_super-rainbow-dash_artist-celestiathegreatest.jpg
th02.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/f/2013/091/4/8/super_rainbow_dash_and_burning_twilight_by_suirano-d602ano.jpg
3145434 I have both of those as my wallpapers
ones for my laptop and ones for my iPad
3145611
Well... Shit happens!
How about this then?
dropbox.com/s/fv78dsm7t3b2hce/150159_564722940224648_927465638_n.jpg
Nice setup, looking forward to seeing where this goes
Because I can definitely picture her being so focused on her secret crush that she'd assume everything is related to it, and it would have been totally awkward and funny. But maybe it's better that she didn't tip her hand too early.
But Twilight seems to have forgotten to actually invite Fluttershy... was that on purpose?
I'm also slightly disappointed that Rainbow's response to “A little get away” wasn't "Y-you mean like, just the two of us?"
Woo, another contest entry. Best of luck!
Suck it Skeeter.
3146425
I mentioned in there that she went to see Fluttershy. in all honesty the only reason that it wasn't written in was because this was originally drafted quite a while ago and I didn't want to stretch it out any longer than it needed to be.
Then should be than.
Quit should be quite.
This should actually read:
Any doesn't need to be in this sentence.
Should read:
Same thing here. Should read:
Ok and that's it. This story has potential thus far. Can't wait to see where you go with it.
punpunpunpunpunpunpunpunpunpunpunpun
3145434 3145611
Thank you sooooooo freaking much! I've been looking for a wallpaper that suggested (maybe?) Twidash that wasn't rubbing noses, cuddling next to a lake, or some other mushy gushy scene. Not that I don't like those, they just won't work for my wallpaper.