Part I
“Oh my goodness! Girls, this is really too much!”
Twilight Sparkle stood in the entryway of their cabin suite, eyes roaming over the luxurious furnishings. A fire merrily crackled in the stone fireplace in the far corner of the open-air common room. Large glass windows stood on either side with double doors that led to the deck, which offered a spectacular view of the woods edging the cabin and the snowy slopes beyond.
Twilight’s exclamation was lost in a cacophony of voices floating in from behind her.
“Rain-bow-DASH! Don’t even think about dragging that ridiculous board across the hardwood floors, they’ll scratch!”
“Relax, Rarity, I’ve got it! And for your information it’s not just a board, it’s a Buckton! I wouldn’t let this baby drag on even the classiest floor.”
“’Scusie Twilight, super-important package coming through!”
“Oh, of course, Pinkie,” Twilight said as she pressed herself to one side in the door, letting her friend through with a massive purple cake perched precariously on her head. “Do you need some help with that?”
“Nope!” she cheerily replied as she bounced off towards the kitchen—followed apprehensively by Twilight’s eyes.
“A nice roarin’ fire,” came Applejack’s voice as she followed Pinkie Pie inside. She slid her pack off at the door and immediately rolled onto a couch facing the hearth. “I’ll give it to ya Rarity, you sure can pick the right place.”
“Kitchen’s stocked too!” cried Pinkie Pie, head already jammed in the fridge and no sign of the cake.
“Oh thank you, Applejack,” called Rarity as she came in from the cold and made a beeline to the far floor level bedroom. “I admit that I was a bit nervous at first, I’m not too terribly familiar with winter lodges.” She paused at the door trying to suppress a grin. “It’s really turned out well though, hasn’t it?”
“Rarity, it’s beautiful,” said Twilight, eyeing the highly polished wooden floor as she explored the common room. “Really, you guys didn’t need to do this much!”
“Are you kidding?” said Rainbow Dash as she trotted in and dumped a pile of snow gear on the floor before the fire. “These mountains have some of the best slopes in all of Equestria! I wouldn’t have missed it for the world!” Rarity gave her a reproachful look from the bedroom doorway. “Uh, but of course this weekend is all about Twilight,” Rainbow Dash quickly added. Rarity flashed an approving smile before turning her attention to unpacking.
“Don’t sweat it, Twilight,” said Applejack. “We really wanted to go all-out for your birthday this year. We knew what we were gettin’ ourselves into.”
Rainbow Dash nodded vigorously. “Yeah, and believe me, it’s totally worth it!”
Twilight couldn’t help but grin. “Thanks, you guys. I’ve been looking forward to this all month.” She gazed around the cabin, taking it all in. “The snow, the skiing, staying up late and hanging out all day…” She cast about for a moment. “Hey, where did Fluttershy get to?”
The aforementioned mare’s voice drifted from the doorway, drowned out by a stream of instructions from a stallion wrapped in a thick winter coat.
“-It’s locked but can be opened for you if you put in a request with our front desk.”
“Okay.”
“Extra firewood can be found on the deck-”
“Okay.”
“-But the screen must be used and the fire should never be unattended.”
“Okay.”
“There are strictly no pets on the premises-”
“Okay.”
“-Roof access is strictly prohibited-”
“Okay.”
“-All damages will be billed to your cabin-”
“Okay.” Fluttershy’s voice seemed to get quieter each time. Twilight trotted back to the door to save her from the concierge.
“Thank you sir, I think we have it from here,” she said.
He peered at her, as if he were assessing her potential to cause property damage. “Alright, here are your keys.” He pulled a small envelope from his coat pocket and handed it to Twilight. “If you need anything else, our desk is in the main lodge just down the lane.” And with that he was out the door and trudging back through the snow.
Fluttershy gave a sigh of relief. “Thanks Twilight, I just couldn’t get away from him.”
“It’s no problem Fluttershy. He looked a little flustered, I guess they have a lot of guests coming through this weekend,” said Twilight as they headed into the common room.
Fluttershy paused. “Um, how are the rooms split up?” she asked.
Twilight pulled out the six keys and organized them into a neat little row. “I’m not sure, nopony except Rarity has picked a room yet.”
Perhaps called by her own name, Rarity stuck her head out of her bedroom door. “Oh, I took the liberty of placing everyone, Twilight. Fluttershy, your room is right across from mine—yes, that one there, at the foot of the staircase. Twilight, yours is upstairs, right above Fluttershy. It’s the one you can see from where you’re standing. Pinkie Pie can take the loft above your room. Applejack’s room is above mine and across from Twilight’s, and Rainbow Dash can have that loft.”
Rainbow Dash gathered up her stuff, carefully setting her board aside, and flew straight up to her loft. Her voice echoed off the vaulted ceiling, “Oh, nice! Everything’s all open air, there’s so much space in here I bet I could even practice some tight stunts!”
“Don’t even think of it!” cried Rarity from her door. “The deposit was more than a Sapphire Shores dress!”
Twilight just rolled her eyes and chuckled as she and Fluttershy headed off to check out the upstairs.
“Oh, I guess I’m right here,” Twilight said as they reached the top of the spiral staircase. “I wonder what…” she trailed as her attention was drawn off to a little nook between the two bedrooms.
“‘What’ what?” asked Fluttershy as she came up behind her. “Is something wrong?”
Before the question left her mouth, Twilight had practically flung herself into the little alcove. She emerged clutching an armful of worn books and a rather doofy grin plastered over her face. “These are first editions,” she mouthed as she excitedly looked over the cover of a tattered green tome.
Fluttershy chuckled. “You should take it easy, Twilight. You’ll burn yourself out before we even get to the snow.”
“I heard that!” called Applejack’s voice from the common room. Pegasus and unicorn approached the edge of the balcony, where they saw Applejack grinning up at them from the couch downstairs. She waved a hoof at Twilight’s armful of books. “And if ya think you’ll be spending all weekend with your nose buried in those instead of with us, I’ll feed ya to a yeti.”
Twilight narrowed her eyes. “Hmm. That’s quite a bold statement.”
“Oh yeah? How’d ya figure?”
“Well, you’re all the way down there. And I’m all the way up here. Looks like you’d have to catch me first!” She levitated her books into a small cloud and cackled as she “escaped” to her room with her contraband.
Twilight left the door ajar behind her, chuckling as an overly dramatic “consarnit” drifted in from downstairs. She stacked the books on a low table just inside the room and began to explore.
“So this is like a little sitting room,” she said to herself as she noted the small couch. “And this room off to the right iiis… the bathroom.” Twilight nodded with a smile as she looked over the amenities. “Sparkling clean, check! Oh, but it keeps going?” She opened the door at the far end of the room. “Okay, so this is the bedroom. And more doors?” The opposite side of the room had a large pair of double doors that opened back to the sitting room. “Oh, so it’s kind of shaped like a donut! But what’s this here…?” The center of the donut-room was made up of a very large, thick pillar, and in the sitting room, a ladder ran up its side. Twilight trotted closer. “It looks like there’s another room up there,” she thought to herself as she climbed. She poked her head up at the top of the ladder, coming face-to-face with a pair of large blue eyes.
“Did I hear something about donuts?”
“Gah!” Twilight caught herself from falling. “Pinkie Pie, weren’t you just in the kitchen?”
“I was, but now I’m not!” She bounced on her hooves, drawing her face only slightly away from Twilight’s. “Ooh, actually, Rainbow Dash and I are doing this thing! Would you help us for just a minute?” Pinkie beckoned her up the ladder and into the loft proper.
Twilight found herself on a simple landing that overlooked most of the cabin. She caught sight of Rainbow Dash sitting in her own loft on the opposite side of the cabin, surrounded by piles of snow gear. She waved to Twilight as she pushed her mess around into smaller, presumably more manageable stacks. Below, on the second floor, Twilight could see Applejack making her way to her own room, and further down Fluttershy was stoking the fire in the common room.
“Over here,” called Pinkie from somewhere behind. Twilight turned to see a large changing screen, and behind it where Pinkie had set up camp. There was a bed and some squishy, simple low furniture, as well as several clusters of balloons and the party cannon not quite hidden in one corner. Pinkie was hunched over a bag, digging through it with gusto.
“What are you looking for?” asked Twilight.
Pinkie emerged with a cartoonish-looking gun and a victorious look on her face. “This,” she said, tying one end of string to a large dart she had beside her.
“Uh, Pinkie…?”
“You ready, Dashie?!” Pinkie Pie yelled across the cabin.
“Of course!” she called back, toting her changing screen closer to the edge of her loft to offer as a target.
“Alright, here we go!” She snapped the dart in the gun, aimed, and fired. The dart went whizzing through the air, string ribboning out behind it as it hit home at the center of the screen.
“Bull’s-eye!” cried Dash as she took the cord and looped it around the hoofrail of the banister at the edge of the loft.
“Alright Twilight, I need you to hold this for me!” Pinkie bounded up and quickly shoved her own changing screen in the unicorn’s hooves.
“Pinkie, what are you even—” But the pegasus across the cabin managed to load and shoot her own dart gun before Twilight could even finish her question.
“Thanks a bunchies!” The pink pony took the string from the dart, tying the ends together around her own loft banister.
“Message line operational,” declared Dash as she tugged at the looping rope. Celebrations were cut short, however, when a voice halfway between frantic and scolding came from downstairs.
“Rainbow Dash, WHAT did you just shoot? That’s not in the wall, is it?!” Rarity scurried across the first floor, trying to find a vantage point that would give her a view of the end of the rope. It took some reassuring from Twilight that it was only a dart, and swearing up and down from the two perpetrators that nothing heavier than paper notes would be passed, before she calmed down.
That evening they all took a daring dip in the Jacuzzi out on the deck (which lasted all of ten minutes in the frigid weather) and turned the kitchen into a disaster area during dinner while attempting to let everyone make a unique dish. After a thorough clean-up and some dessert served up by Pinkie Pie, they all lay out in front of the fire drinking hot chocolate. Rainbow Dash and Applejack made a bit of a contest out of chucking popcorn kernels at a decorative bird figure topping the large grandfather clock against the wall. They eventually ran out of kernels, each staunchly believing she had won, and soon everyone began to swap stories.
“…And then, it totally caught on fire!” Pinkie Pie finished.
“No way,” gasped Fluttershy. Twilight couldn’t help but giggle at that; it looked like Fluttershy was the only one still following the story at that point.
“You know,” said Twilight, “I’m really glad that you all convinced me to come out here. At first I was nervous when you guys mentioned skiing, but I think I’ve read enough that I won’t embarrass myself too much tomorrow.”
“Nonsense, darling, I’m sure you’ll do just fine,” said Rarity. “And besides, you’ll be in good company with myself and Fluttershy.” She straightened, raising her mug and clearing her throat. “I think this calls for a toast.” Five tankards were duly raised as Rarity continued. “I have to say, I’m very proud of you all for helping this trip come together. It was a lot of work to pull all those bits together-”
“’Cept for Rainbow Dash. Did you know she was collectin’ bits from the wishin’ fountain in town?”
“Hey, as long as they hit the water, the wish is good! And what does a fountain need bits for anyway?”
Rarity managed to squelch the scandalized look creeping across her face and continue. “A-hem. Yes, as I was saying. We’re here to celebrate our dear friend Twilight’s birthday, and as I look around this room, I know we’re also here for each other, each and every one.” She sniffed, her eyes growing misty. “And—and—” Her voice grew higher and cracked before she broke into a melodramatic cascade of tears, Fluttershy leaning in and offering a comforting hug.
Applejack rolled her eyes and grinned. “Aw shucks, Rarity, we love ya too.”
Twilight chuckled. “How about ‘to friendship’?”
They all raised their mugs higher, a chorus of voices shouting “To friendship!”
“I love you all so mu-u-uch!” Rarity bawled.
________________________________________
Early the next day they hit the slopes. Rainbow Dash and Applejack went off on their own to check out the snowboarding and Pinkie Pie went straight to the skating rink. Twilight, Fluttershy, and Rarity headed to the easier ski courses to start. Twilight thought she saw a glimmer of disappointment in Fluttershy’s eyes when she realized that “bunny slope” referred to the difficulty level instead of nearby woodland residents, but it wasn’t long before they were laughing good-naturedly at each other as they flailed down the run. A bit of a debate erupted when everyone regrouped for lunch at an on-site restaurant. The plan was to take a cross-country ski trail for the afternoon, but a blizzard was expected to hit soon. After some discussion of wind patterns in the area and one or two uses of the word “chicken” it was decided that they’d strike out early and try to get back before the first big flurries. That, however, turned out to be wishful thinking.
That evening Rarity was the first to slam open the door, accompanied by a blast of wind and snow.
“Fluttershy. Darling. I know you have the best intentions, but you really didn’t need to converse with every hare we passed.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Rarity. I just wanted to make sure everyone could get somewhere safe before the blizzard,” said Fluttershy, offering an apologetic smile as she followed the unicorn in.
“…Oh, you know I can’t stay mad at you. Especially not with that face.” Rarity pouted as she shimmied out of her ski jacket.
“Oh Rarity, it wasn’t that bad,” said Pinkie Pie as she came bouncing in.
“Not that bad?” said Applejack, right behind, “We were wading through snow drifts bigger than Big Mac!”
“I know, right?” said Pinkie Pie. “I can never hide in them back home. That was the best game of Ambush Tag Snow War I’ve played in a really, really, really long time!” Twilight came in covered head to hoof in snow.
“Uh, sugarcube,” said Applejack, “I think Twilight was tryin’ to ring your neck at that point.”
“That’s crazy,” replied Pinkie Pie. She clapped Twilight hard on the back as she passed, incidentally knocking all the snow off into one convenient, Twilight-shaped pile. “Everyone loves Ambush Tag Snow War,” she declared.
“It’s fine,” said Twilight with a sigh, “but next time, Pinkie, could you at least give us a heads-up when you start a game?”
Rainbow Dash brought up the rear, closing the door with a snap. “Ugh, I think I have snow in my ears. You know what sounds totally awesome right now? Something really hot.”
Applejack made a clatter in the kitchen. “Got it covered,” she said, pulling down tankards and heating up a large kettle.
Shed of their winter attire, everyone lay out by the fire and debated the finer points to a good wipe-out over hot apple cider. It wasn’t long before there was a brusque rap at the door.
“Who could that be?” asked Pinkie Pie, her nose covered in cider foam.
“Fluttershy, you’re closest to the door,” said Rarity. “Be a dear and see who it is?”
She obliged, setting her tankard aside and trotting over to the door. There was a second knock before she could answer, this one quicker and louder. “Can I help yo-” she was cut short by the voice of the concierge, sounding almost panicked. Twilight couldn’t make out what he was saying from her spot, but Fluttershy’s sharp gasp of surprise didn’t escape her notice. Nor did her scream just a moment later.