Chapter 1
Ponyville was covered in a blanket of wet, cold snow. The first snowfall of the season had finally came, which meant a whole other year of winter fun! Mostly every pony in Ponyville was out enjoying the day. Fillies and colts were out of school for the day, so they kept themselves preoccupied by sledding down the steepest hills they could find, holding snowball fights, and then warmed up inside with a cup of hot chocolate. It wasn’t just the youngest ponies that were having a good time too, with mostly everyone outside taking part in various fun and games. Mostly everyone.
Rarity was sheltered up in her boutique, her mind not concerned with the events taking place right outside her door. With the first snowfall already upon her, it was vital that she finished work on all her winter styles; she had some absolutely marvelous ideas this year too.
“All right, Opalescence,” Rarity conversed with her cat, her magic levitating a hot cup of tea, “it’s time to get to work!”
Opal, lying on one of the many fabrics in the room, gave her owner a look of frustration as she was interrupting her fifth nap of the day. Before she could fall back to sleep, Rarity lifted her up with her magic.
“I’m sorry Opal darling, but I am going to need this fabric for a few dresses today,” Rarity patted the cat on her head. Opal meowed once again then went to search for another place to nap.
“All right, Rarity,” the unicorn adjusted her glasses while she looked over the drawings of her idea, “which one shall we start with?”
Picking the right dress to start off with was challenging since Rarity felt they were all so magnificent. After giving it some thought, she decided to go with the dress that called for a long, crimson red coat and an adorable pair of boots.
“This will do nicely! I can definitely see a few mares in Canterlot in Manehatten wearing this one!” Rarity smiled, daydreaming about her styles being worn all over Equestria.
All of the necessary tools and fabrics were set out, just waiting to help bring Rarity’s latest idea to life. She levitated one of her mannequins over, took measurements, then jotted a few notes down on a sticky note. Rarity tried to remained focused, but the laughter from the ponies outside her boutique kept distracting her.
“They do seem to be having a lot of fun out there,” Rarity whined.
Outside her window, she could see her sister Sweetie Belle building a snowman with her friends. As much as Rarity wanted to join them in some winter fun, she had priorities. She shut the blinds, isolating herself from the rest of Ponyville to get started on her work, though she could still hear the sounds of laughter outside.
After about an hour of working, Rarity was quite pleased with the product, though there was still plenty of work to be done. The coat was coming along wonderfully, the red practically popping straight off the dress. On a snowy day, just like today, any pony smart enough to don it would stick out in the best way possible.
“I can definitely see this one being a popular seller, don’t you?” Rarity asked Opal, somewhat expecting an answer.
Opal replied with a meow. Rarity smiled, then levitated her scissors to cut another piece of fabric. Using her magic, she gently placed the newly cut fabric on another mannequin. It rested softly on the lifeless, but structurally perfect, model. Right when she was about to make another measurement for her fabric, there was a knock at the door.
“Oh, I wonder who that could be. Maybe it’s a customer!” Rarity said hopefully while she trotted towards the door. When she opened the door, Rarity was greeted by the epitome of randomness.
“Hi, Rarity!” the one and only Pinkie Pie grinned from ear to ear, both of which were covered by a pair of earmuffs. Her hooves were kept warm by a pair of boots, a pair that Rarity had actually made for her last winter, and a pink and white coat covered her fur. By her hooves, a sturdy, brown sled sat in the snow.
“Hello, Pinkie,” Rarity smiled. “How are you today? I see you’re keeping yourself warm in a lovely outfit!”
“I’m doing Pinkie-rific!” the cheerful pony announced bubbly.
“I’ll assume that’s a good thing,” Rarity replied. “Anyways, what brings you to the boutique darling?”
Pinkie bowed her head down. When she came back up, the string to her slid was in her mouth.
“Sledding!”
Rarity raised an eyebrow. She looked down at the sled, then back at Pinkie, and down at the sled one last time.
“Sledding?”
“Yup!” Pinkie nodded happily, doing a few little bounces as well. “Sledding!”
Rarity began to chuckle. “Oh, Pinkie Pie, while enjoying this lovely, winter day sounds delightful, sledding is, how would you say, ‘not my style’. Besides, I should be inside working and not out here, having…a good time,” she sighed.
“Aw, come on Rarity! I’m sure one day filled with snowy fun won’t hurt it! I have snowy filled fun days all the time, even when it’s not snowing!” Rarity wasn’t even going to attempt to figure that one out.
Rarity looked backed into her boutique, the floor cluttered with fabrics and works in progress. When she looked back outside, she saw pony after pony having more fun than her. Unfortunately, fun won’t pay the bills, no matter what Pinkie Pie says.
“I’m terribly sorry, Pinkie, but I have to get back to work,” Rarity said halfheartedly as she started to retreat back into her boutique.
“How come you’ve never went sledding?”
Rarity’s head shot back to Pinkie. “How’d you find that out?”
“Sweetie Belle told me!” Pinkie smiled. “I was like ‘Hey, does anypony want to go sledding’ and they were all like ‘No, we’re building a snowman’ and I was like ‘That sounds like fun!’ and I was going to help them but then I remembered I wanted to go sledding so I was like ‘Do you guys know anypony that would want to go sledding’ and Sweetie Belle was like ‘Rarity’s never gone sledding ever!’ so I hopped on over here to take you sledding!” Pinkie explained.
“Sweetie Belle is right, I never have been sledding and I don’t plan on going anytime soon. There are plenty of better ways to enjoy the snow than sliding down a hill,” Rarity huffed.
“But you’ve never done it, so you can’t say that for sure!” Pinkie hopped around her anti-sledding friend. “Just go sledding with me this one time, please please please please?” Pinkie gave Rarity a big pair of light blue puppy dog eyes. Even Rarity found it hard to resist.
“Okay, I’ll go sledding, but,” Rarity raised her hoof, “just once and not another time more; I do have a rather lengthy list of dresses to get working on.”
Pinkie nearly tackled Rarity to the ground, her legs wrapping around her friend’s neck. “Yay yay yay! Oh, this is going to be so much fun, you won’t even believe it!”
“Yes, I’m sure it’ll be a blast,” Rarity said sarcastically with a roll of the eyes.
Once she was dressed in suitable attire, Rarity was ready for her sledding session with Pinkie Pie, though she’d rather spend her day doing something else. The two were trudging through the snow in search of the perfect sledding spot. Eventually, Pinkie found exactly what they were looking for: a nice, steep hill that was just begging for a pony to sled down it.
“Now, that’s what I call a hill!” Pinkie hollered.
“Yes, it’s very…hill-y,” Rarity didn’t share the same enthusiasm.
“Come on, Rarity! We gotta get to the top!” Pinkie darted forward. Rarity ducked so the sled wouldn’t fling back and hit her directly in the face.
“Whatever you say, darling,” she sighed.
Pinkie sped to the top of the hill, Rarity unconcerned with matching her pace behind her. Rarity’s hooves fit perfectly into the prints left by her pink friend while she traveled to the hill’s summit, the snow cold, but refreshing to touch.
“Wow, I can even see Sweet Apple Acres from up here!” Pinkie looked out over Ponyville, feeling like Princess Celestia herself.
“It is a marvelous view,” Rarity admitted. Her boutique was the first thing she noticed.
Pinkie sat the sled down on the white snow. “Come on, Rarity, this is going to be fun, I Pinkie Promise!”
“You also Pinkie Promised that using a hoofcar to get out of Dodge Junction would be fun too,” the skeptical mare placed herself on the sled anyways.
“And it was super-duper fun, especially when we got to talk about chimicherrychongas!”
“Yes, just so much fun,” Rarity shuddered.
Pinkie sat her rump down on the sled directly behind Rarity. Over the unicorn’s shoulder, she couldn’t even see the bottom of the hill since it was so steep. She would’ve loved to have Rarity’s view, right at the front of the sled, but she wanted to make sure Rarity got to experience sledding in all of its terrific glory.
“Are you ready?” Pinkie asked. She placed her hooves down in the snow, ready to push them back and propel the sled straight down the hill.
Rarity opened her mouth but, before she could speak, Pinkie let out a cheer and flung the sled forward. The only sound she made was a high pitched scream, the sound traveling with her as the sled sped down the hill. Wind blasted onto Rarity’s face, cold but not painful. Her mane blew wildly, a few strands falling out of place. Behind her, Pinkie Pie threw her hooves up into the air, expressing her delight with various “yays” and “woos”. Rarity continued to scream, her eyes shut tight, while the sled zoomed, catching air time a few times when it went over bumps.
“Come on, Rarity! Open your eyes!” Pinkie hollered.
Rarity did so reluctantly, a few snowflakes getting caught onto her fake eyelashes during the sled’s physics lesson. Rarity’s yelps had begun to die down once she acknowledged the wind flowing through her hair and the chilly handprints it left on her face when it touched her. Her ears twitched when it caught the whooshing sound of wind. This was turning out to be exhilarating, a rush, an adrenaline fueled journey down a simple hill.
The two had reached the base of the hill, the sledding starting to come to a halt. The simple vehicle traveling just a couple of my inches before it came to a full stop. With shaky legs, Rarity lifted herself off the sled and stepped onto the snow.
“So, was it fun? Huh, huh, huh?” Pinkie hopped gleefully.
“Pinkie,” Rarity panted, “That…was...”
She paused for a moment. Her mind analyzed the series events that had just happened. The mile per hour descent down one of Ponyville’s many, many hills. The rush that came with it. The unearthly feeling of gusts gracing your face.
“It was just…so much fun!” Rarity burst into laughter. She balanced herself on her hind legs and kicked wildly at the air in delight.
Pinkie nearly shot to the moon in joy. “Yay! I knew you would love it. Everypony loves sledding! It’s just so much fun!” she hopped in circles around her purple maned friend.
"Oh, we simply must do it again! Who knew such an outrageous idea could be so much fun!” Rarity smiled, taking hold of the sled’s string in her mouth.
For the rest of the day, Rarity and Pinkie Pie continued to sled all across Ponyville, with a few friends joining in as the day went on. Each trip down a hill better than the last, more enjoyable, more exciting. It was the first snowfall of the season and Rarity couldn’t wait for the next one.