Desperate to help a colt Pinkie volunteers to take him in. But is Pinkie really ready to provide the proper environment that would help encourage the colt to overcome his challenges?
Pinkie finds a young colt collapsed in the snow in one of the worst winter storms of the year. The colt's parents are no where to be seen and he does not understand Equestrian.
Desperate to help the lost colt Pinkie volunteers to take him in. But is Pinkie really ready to provide the proper environment that would help encourage the colt to overcome his challenges?
A young boy staggered along the Arctic sea ice desperately looking for any kind of shelter. Unfortunately though only the odd snow drift that broke the monotonousness barren landscape. A cold arctic wind pelted the boy with blowing snow, each little ice crystal felt like a small needle had pricked his skin. Every step took more and more effort as the relentless environment around had robbed him of the feeling in his extremities. In their place was left painful numb throbbing.
Finally the young boy took his final step, gravity took over and the young boy barely noticed that a hard wind swept snow drift had rose up to meet his face. He let out a groan and tried to push up off the ice but it was no use. His arms did not have the strength left to lift his exhausted body. All he was could do was curl up into a little ball and wait for the inevitable. He wanted to cry but the bone chilling wind instantly froze any tears that came out. The best he could manage was whimper.
Through the endless blowing snow a pair of black eyes approached then stopped just outside of his reach. In front of him sat a small arctic fox. Its fluffy white fur made it difficult to see against the snow on which it sat. If it were not for its black eyes and nose the fox would have been all but invisible to the young boy.
The boy stared at the white fox and it stared back. After a couple of minutes the fox broke the staring contest stood and turned its back to the boy. Desperation began to cloud the boy's mind as the fox took a couple of steps away. He did not want to be alone even if his only company was a fox. Using what energy the boy could muster he tried to get the fox's attention.
"WAIT!"
The fox stopped and turned its head to look at the boy once more. "Please don't leave me", pleaded the boy. The fox tilted its head curious. The Fox with a very human like gesture raised one of its fore-paws and motioned for the boy to follow it as it started to take slow deliberate steps away from the boy.
Desperate not to lose sight of the fox the boy tried once more to get up off the numbing ice. This time his arms did not give out even as his body remained numb to the word around him. As the boy took his first steps the chilling arctic wind began to increase in intensity picking up the loose snow turning his world white. The fox could no longer be seen but the boy knew which direction to go so he took another step, then another. With each step the boy's body began to feel different. After twenty steps the boy was exhausted once more and could no longer stand uptight. He collapsed onto a patch of soft white snow and his world faded to black.
Pinkie Pie began to clean Sugarcube Corner after closing for the day. It was not going to be an easy task as certain events had turned the interior of the cozy little bakery into a war zone of multicoloured frosting. No surface was left unscathed from the relentless cupcake war started by three rather rambunctious fillies and pinkie's emergency store of food fight cupcakes.
Pinkie pulled out the cleaning supplies she had obtained from Magic Eraser and proceeded scrub every nook and cranny of Sugarcube Corner. Five minutes later Pinkie ran a hoof across her forehead clearing away the sweat that threatened to get into her eyes and admired her work. Sugarcube Corner was now spotless and not a moment to soon as the door to the bakery opened and in walked Mrs Cake with her two foals: Pound and Pumpkin Cake her back. A cold winter chill followed the new arrivals into bakery leaving a spattering of fresh snow on the floor of the entrance.
"Brrr", Mrs. Cake shivered, "That's got to be one of the worst Everfree winter storms I have ever been in."
"Welcome back Mrs. Cake", said Pinkie as she gave a friendly wave. "Did the twins enjoy their play date?"
"They sure did", said Mrs. Cake as she turned her head to face the twins and gave each of them a nuzzle. Playful giggles escaped the twins at the show of motherly affection. "In-fact I think we have already set up a time to go it again next week."
Mrs. Cake took a moment to look around the bakery to make sure every thing was order. To her surprise Sugarcube Corner was much cleaner than normal. The bakery was spotless, looking down at the floor Mrs. Cake could even see her reflection gleaming off the tiles. She turned to look at Pinkie who was still smiling like her normal Pinkie self but something was different. Pinkie's coat glistening with the sweat of recent exertion and colourful frosting stained her bright pink mane. Mrs. Cake's smile disappeared taking on a more serious tone as she approached the Pink Party Pony. "What have I said about food fights in the bakery?"
"Oh it was not a food fight it was 'cw1' also known as the great cupcake war."
Mrs. Cake facehoofed, "Pinkie, a cupcake war is still a food fight. Please promise me this will not happen again while you are watching Sugarcube Corner"
"OK Mrs. Cake, Cross my heart hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." said pinkie while she went through the motions for a pinkie promise.
"Thank you dear" said Mrs. Cake while letting out a sigh of relief. "Now why don't you get cleaned up and I will start on supper. You still have frosting in your mane."
"Okie dokie Lokie" said pinkie as she began to make her way towards the stairs. Pinkie stopped dead in her tracks as her parts of her body began to shake. It began with the twitching of her knee, then a shiver ran down her spine ending with her tail twitching. Mrs. Cake who watched Pinkie's Pinkie sense kick in. Pinkie turned to face Mrs. Cake as her eyes grew wide and a large smile crept onto her face.
"Pinkie, what does that combination mean?", Mrs. Cake tentatively asked taking a couple steps back and starting to look for cover. No one really knew how Pinkie's pinkie sense worked and she was not familiar with that combination so it put her a bit on edge.
A short gasp escaped Pinkie, "There is a new pony in town!", she exclaimed. Without giving Mrs. Cake a second to process what was said, Pinkie disappeared in a puff of pink smoke. The door the Sugarcube Corner abruptly opened and closed leaving Mrs. Cake standing there dumbfounded.
"I will need to remember that twitchy knee, shivery spine, and twitchy tail means there is a new pony in town", Mrs. Cake said out loud to no one in particular as she shook her head at Pinkie's antics. Shrugging off what had just transpired Mrs. Cake began to make her way towards the kitchen to prepare supper for her and the twins.
Mrs. cake had not been kidding when she said the winter storm raging outside was bad. Visibility was only a few meters making it thought to see the edges for the road. This though did was not much concern to Pinkie. She new the general direction she needed to go and that was all she needed. Pinkie stopped as the road turned into the vast field that made up the park. Squinting Pinkie tried to see past the endless wall of snow.
She had been searching now for twenty minutes now and still had not found the new pony on town. She took a couple steps into the park in the direction she sensed the new comer. At the edge of her vision a black smudge came into view. Overcome with anticipation Pinkie rushed over to inspect the black object.
As she came closer the black of the object turned into the mane of a young earth pony colt. The colt's fur was as white as the snow around him which made it difficult to tell where his body ended and the snow began.
The colt was shivering profusely, his eyes were closed and his breathing seemed to be laboured. Pinkie reached out a hoof and gave the foal a soft nudge. The colt did not respond at first but slowly his eyes began to open. The colt's eyes seemed to be looking through Pinkie which made the him look almost lifeless. The colt groaned and mumbled something too quiet for Pinkie to hear then the colt's eyes slowly began to close once more.
The sickly state of the colt caused Pinkie to begin to panic. The foal needed medical attention and he needed it fast if he was going to have a chance. Pinkie Approached the colt, Pinkie reached down and gently lifted the colt onto her back. An another quiet unintelligible mumble came from the colt. Once Pinkie ensured the colt was secure on her back she took off towards the hospital at her best possible speed.
Five minutes later the doors to Ponyville hospital burst open. Nurse Red Heart had been sitting behind the desk at the end of the lobby jumped in alarm. "Nurse help him please!" exclaimed Pinkie while pulling the foal off her back and holding him close to her chest in her forelegs.
Nurse Red Heart turned to glare at pinkie for interrupting her but the state she saw Pinkie in made her become very worried. Pinkie's signature curly mane and tail had wilted becoming completely straight adding to the utter look of sadness and desperation Pinkie's face wore. In Pinkie's fore-hooves was held a shivering white colt.
Nurse Red heart proceeded to grab a gurney and quickly brought it towards Pinkie. "Place him on the bed" instructed Nurse Red Heart. Carefully Pinkie placed the colt on the gurney and took a step back. Nurse Red Heart gave the white and black colt a quick visual assessment. "He appears to be suffering from hypothermia.", Stated Red Heart while turning towards Pinkie, " Where did you find him?"
Taking a deep breath Pinkie began to explain " My pinkie sense told that there was a new pony in town so I followed sense in the direction it was telling me the to go. I stumbled upon him laying in the snow shivering with his eyes closed in the park. I tried to wake him, but when he looked me eyes seemed as if he was looking through me. he then said something I could not understand and seemed to fall back asleep."
"Were there any signs of his parents?"
"Nope, I did not see any sign of his parents being around where I found him and my Pinkie sense did not detect any other new people in town".
"Hmmm, well then Pinkie you can leave if you want while I treat the colt but I will need you to come in the morning to tell the proper authorities what you have told me."
"Perfect this gives me time to plan a a combination 'welcome to Ponyville' and 'you almost died from hypothermia' party!" Pinkie exclaimed becoming animated with new found energy.
"Pinkie I don't think....", before Nurse Red Heart could protest further Pinkie disappeared in a blur of pink. With a sigh Nurse Red Heart proceeded to move the colt into one of the rooms.
The boy sat on the back of his father's snowmobile as it raced across the sea ice. His arms were wrapped firmly around his father's torso as the snowmobile rocked from side to side as if threatening to buck its two occupants off in a fit of rage. The dark world around them was illuminated by the soft green glow of the northern lights dancing overhead.
The boy nudged his father, "Dad, I need to pee", he yelled over the roar of the snowmobile's engine.
His father let up on the throttle and they came to a restful stop. "Make it quick we have a ways to go yet"
The boy jumped off the snowmobile made a b-line for the nearest snowdrift. As he rounded the corner a familiar looking Arctic fox sat on the sea ice three feet away looking up at him.
"Look", said a disembodied voice.
Confused he looked around in an attempt locate the voice, but the only creature around was the fox.
"Look", said the voice once more.
This time the Boy saw that the fox was pointing a paw back towards the snowmobile. He turned around looked back to see his father sitting on the snowmobile patiently waiting for him.
~Crack~
The sound echoed through the barren landscape. He saw his father look around briefly looking for the sound originated from. Then his father disappeared from the ice in a splash of water.
"Dad?" The eerie groaning of the sea ice shifting was the only response. Tears started flowed down the side of his face. "Dad, where did you go?", he yelled into the empty expanse. Desperately he tried to move towards where he last saw his father but his feet were stuck. Not willing to give up, he let out another more cry. ___
"Dad!", scream the colt as he awoke from his dream. Fresh tears flowed down his face down at the memory that had been relived.
The glare of the sun shining through the window brought him out of his thoughts. Looking around he noticed he occupied one of two beds in a room. The walls were plain white and there was the heavy smell if disinfectant wafting through the air. On a small table next to his bed sat a glass of water.
The sight of the glass made him aware of how parched his throat felt, it had been over a day since he last had anything to drink and his body demanded he coat his throat with the the glass's cool, wet contents. Shuffling his body closer towards the table. He reached out for the glass, the sound of something hard hitting the glass's surface echoed off the room's walls followed by the sound of water dripping onto the floor.
He stared at the knocked over glass confused. His eyes moved from the glass to his arm and let out a gasp, what he saw was not his hand but a hoof. Dumbfounded by the sight he moved his forelimb up, down and side to side in an effort to convince himself what he saw was not real. Unfortunately the alien appendage obeyed his commands.
The longer he studied the hooved appendage the more he became aware how strange his whole body felt. Afraid to find out what else may have changed he looked down at his body. What he saw made him hold his breath in shock. Gone were his arms and legs, in their place were four limbs that ended in hooves. In place of his tan skin a full pelt of white fur greeted his eyes. The final nail in the coffin though was the sight of a long black tail.
His mind was now in full panic mode. Thinking this might be a nightmare he closed his eyes and hit himself across the face with one of his fore-hooves. A sharp pain erupted from the side of his face but as he opened his eyes he was still confronted with the same nightmarish scene.
Unable to comprehend why this was happening he let out a blood curdling scream.
Nurse Lemon Heart strode through the quiet halls pushing a cart loaded with meals for the various patients that currently resided within the hospital's walls. It had been a calm morning with no new ponies admitted. It had stopped snowing outside but the leaving streets were left saturated with over a foot of the white stuff. This ensured only the ponies with the most serious of illnesses braved the deep snow.
Stopping in front of one of the many doors that dotted the hall Lemon Heart took a deep breath. In the room behind the door laid a stallion who was her least favorite patient. He had been admitted after he suffered the wrath of a mares that was not the least bit impressed with how he kept trying to flirt with her. Eventually he crossed a line and the mare broke three of his ribs.
Pushing open the door Lemon Heart cautiously made her way into the patients room. "Hey there Lemon Drops, come to keep me company?", he asked in a poor excuse for a seductive voice.
"The name is Lemon Heart. If you want your meal you will remember that", she warned in a stern voice while pointing an accusatory hoof in his direction.
"But Lemon Drops fits so much better since you look sweet as candy." Lemon Heart rolled her eyes at the the stallions horrible attempt to flirt with her.
From down the hall came a loud scream which caused her ears instinctively curled flat against her head in an attempt to protect her sensitive hearing. She felt her body grow cold with worry, something must of gone terribly wrong with a patient. Silently thanking Celestia for an excuse to extricated herself from the stallion's presence she left the room as fast as her legs could carry her. She rushed down the hall towards the cries of distress, bursting through the door she saw the colt which Red Heart had admitted last night laying in a bed screaming in fright. When he saw her standing in the door way his eyes shrunk to the size of pins and he fell deathly quiet.
The absolute look of terror on his face made her heart sink. Tentatively she took a step forward towards the colt. He watched her wide eyed as she carefully made her way to his bed side. Standing next bed the colt continued the stared into her eyes with the same look of terror petrified onto his face. "Shhh, it will be alright just calm down", cooed Lemon Heart in the most soothing voice she could muster. Slowly she reached out to give him a reassuring pat on the withers.
The colt watched as her hoof as it slowly made its way towards him. He let out a quiet whimper as she made contact the colt promptly fainted. The strong smell of urine began to fill the air. Lemon Heart's concern grew, never in her ten years of working as a nurse had she seen a pony react that way to her presence. It unnerved her to think what kind of abuse the colt went through to be so afraid of other ponies.
She would need to let Doctor Horse know about her revelations, but first the soiled sheets needed to be changed and the colt was in desperate need of a bath.
Caring Skies sat behind her desk in the Counselors office going through the many missing foal reports that had been wired to her from Canterlot. She had been looking through them for hours and had tackled most of the reports but unfortunately none of them seemed matched the description of the colt Pinkie Pie had found. She let out a groan of frustration, she blew her sliver hair out her eyes, gave her wings an agitated twitch then reached for yet another report with her sky blue forelimb.
She read the first few lines of the report in front of her. "Nope", she mumbled under her breath discarding the report. She reached for the final report and once again discarded after giving it a quick glance.
She rested her head on her desk, rubbing her temples with her hooves. It was rare for a young foal to become separated from their parents these days in Equestria, especially so for it to happen in Ponyville. This put her in the position where she would have to assign a temporary guardian for the colt, but she had no clue who she could approach.
A knock on the door drew her attention away from her thoughts. "Come in", The door opened and in walked a earth pony stallion. He had a navy blue mane and wore a white lab coat of over his light brown pelt.
"Stressful day I see" he said noticing the the large stack of papers on her desk.
"I went through every missing foal report I could get my hooves on", She gestured to stack of papers , "And not one matched the colt's description", she finished with a sigh
"Speaking of the colt Nurse Lemon Heart brought something interesting to my attention."
Caring skies eyed the Doctor suspiciously, "Please tell me it's good news Doctor Horse"
"Um well.... no",he admitted, she let out another groan while tried in vain burrow her face further into her desk, "The colt had a fairly bad panic attack and fainted while he was in the presence of the the nurse."
"Is he alright?", she asked her face taking on a concerned expression
"He is now, the nurse gave him a bit of sedative so he should sleep for a couple of hours while we figure out how to approach the situation." explained Doctor Horse
"Well at least he is asleep", Caring Skies motioned towards the chair in front of her desk. "Take a seat it sound like we have some planning to do"
The kitchen at Sugarcube Corner was alive with commotion as a pinkie blur could be seen rushing from one end to the other. The homely smell of fresh baking filled the air and a batch of fresh cupcakes sat cooling off on the counter. All that was left to do was add the icing. Pinkie had spent minutes trying to guess which flavour of icing the new colt would like. Nothing brought a smile on the faces of young ponies in the hospital better than the perfect get well soon cupcake.
"Ah ha!" exclaimed Pinkie finally satisfied with her choice. With precision the of a great artist creating their latest work Pinkie decorated each of the six cupcakes she had prepared. Each cupcake was a different colour and had either "get well soon blank" or "welcome to Ponyville blank". She used 'blank' since she did not know what the colt's actual name was.
Just as she finished her work Mrs. Cake walked in, "Oh good morning Pinkie, what are you doing up to so early?"
"Just finished my super duper combination 'welcome to Ponyville' and 'get well soon' cupcakes" explained Pinkie as she reached into her mane and pulled out a box to put the cupcakes into.
"Ah yes that's right, how was meeting the new pony last night?"
Pinkie's mane lost a some of its bounce when she heard the question. "It could of gone better", admitted Pinkie stared down at the floor for a moment, her mane wilted a bit more. "The new pony was a young colt who I found unconscious and shivering in the snow so I brought him to the hospital"
Mrs. Cake covered her mouth with her hoof in surprise, "I hope the dear will be OK."
"He will be once I welcome him to Ponyville properly and he eats one of my super fantastic cupcakes", assured Pinkie, her mane returning to its normal bouncy self as she stuffed the now filled box of cupcakes into the seemingly endless void that was her puffy mane. Finished in the kitchen she bounced past Mrs. Cake towards the entrance.
"Pinkie wait!" exclaimed Mrs. Cake as she grabbed a paper bag and proceeded to fill it with a couple of cookies and held it out for Pinkie. "Before you leave why don't you take some of the maple nut cookies. They were supposed to be sold today but..", Mrs. Cake motioned at the empty interior of the bakery with a hoof, "It doesn't look like anyone wants to brave the snow today."
"Thanks I just know he will love them" Pinkie grabbed the small bag of cookies and in a similar method to the box of cupcakes they disappeared into her mane.
Opening the front door Pinkie started to bounce her way through the snow towards the hospital. Most ponies would dread the extra effort required to try and move through the deep snow. Pinkie's unusual way of locomotion though went unhindered allowing her to make good time. Ten minutes later she bounced through the entrance of the hospital.
The lobby was empty like much of the rest of town had been. "Hello?" Pinkie asked in a sing song voice. After a few moments she just shrugged proceed to walk down the hall in a random direction. After passing six different door she stopped dead in her tracks to stared at a door. Something in the back of her mind was telling this was the room she was looking for.
Slowly Pinkie pushed the door open to take a look inside. On the only occupied bed was a sleeping colt. His distinctive black mane and white fur left no doubt that she had found the correct room. Quietly she made her way across the room to the colt's bedside. With a wide smile of anticipation she waited for the for the colt to wake.
The colt let out a groan as he awoke from his fright induced slumber. His body felt exhausted as if he had run a marathon. Opening his eyes once again The colt was greeted with the warm plain colours of the strange room he awoke in previously. The colt brought up a forelimb to wipe away some of the sleep from his eyes. Something hard impacted his face, annoyed he opened his eyes and was greeted once more his alien appendage hovering in front of his face. As he stared at the hoof more unknown bodily sensations crept mind which caused him to let out a soft gasp. His heart picked up its pace, his ears pinned themselves down against his head and his tail twitched in agitation as panic began to set in once more.
He took a couple large breaths as he tried to calm himself down. He did notice that some of the more uncomfortable sensations had disappeared such as sweat soaked fur on damp bed sheets. His fur now felt light and soft against the bed with the slight smell of peach permeating off it .
Looking around the room the colt's eyes fell upon the now refilled glass of water. His dry throat once again demanded a drink. With a bit of effort he moved himself closer to the table. Remembering his first attempt he carefully attempted to grab the glass. A soft clink originated from the glass as his hoof made contact pushing it slightly farther away.
Groaning in frustration he brought his hoof closer to his face so he could get a better look at it. Its grey bony exterior was almost unmovable and offered no visible way grip objects on its own. He looked at his second fore-hoof and saw it was almost an exact mirror of the other hoof. Out of curiosity he brought both hooves together.
~clop~
The sound permeated through the room. The colt sat there dumbfounded for a few moments as he tried to figure out a better way to use his new limbs. He reached out for the glass once more but this time he decided to use both hooves placing one on either side of the glass. Pressing the glass between his two hooves he tried to lift the glass. The near friction-less surface though did not agree with his effort causing the glass to slip from between the colt's hooves landing with a thump back on the table. "stupid useless hooves" he complained with another groan of frustration giving up trying to use his hooves.
Moving his his muzzle closer towards the glass the colt opened his mouth and gripped it with his teeth. Arching his head back the cool refreshing liquid flowed down his throat. Only three quarters of the water made it into the colt's mouth, the rest dripped down his neck causing and onto the bed beneath him causing it to become damp.
Letting out a sigh he beamed with satisfaction, he finally had accomplished something in his new body. Giggling from other side of the bed caused his ears to perk up an ruin the moment. Tentatively he turned his head, his ears instinctively pinned themselves to his head as he looked for the source of the giggling. Next to the bed stood another of the pony like creatures that had entered the room previously. This once had a bright pink fur and a curly mane. She stared down at the him with a wide expectant smile plastered across her face.
Without warning the bright pink pony started to talk in a language the young colt didn't understand. A look of terror crept across this face as the pink pony kept up her rant. Once the pony finished talking and she stared at him as if she expected some kind of answer. When she did not receive a answer she brought her face in closer to him and started to talk once more.
The abrupt invasion of personal space was a bit to much for the colt. He scooted as fast as his clumsy little body could muster away from the assertive pink pony.
He let out a surprised yelp as he felt the soft padding of the bed disappeared from under him. Desperate he pawed at the sheets with his forelimbs in an attempt to keep himself from falling. He saw the Pink pony let out a surprised gasp and tried to reach out to help him but it was to late.
~Thump~
The colt landed on his rump and swiftly collapsed down onto his stomach. Tears began to flow down his face. He felt very alone, "I want my father" he whimpered as he buried his face in his fore-hooves.
A large warm furry mass curled itself around the colt and pulled him into a tight embrace. removing his face from his forelimbs, tears staining his face he looked into the eyes of the pink pony. Her mane had lost most of its curl and her smile had disappeared, in its place she bore a look of great concern. Her embrace felt warm and comforting and reminded him of how his father had held him when he would have nightmares about his mother's passing. Wrapping his own hooves around the barrel of the pink pony he buried his face into the fur of her chest and let out his sorrows.
Pinkie stared down at colt curled up into her side, His face was still buried into her fur even though he had cried himself dry fifteen minutes ago. She tried to understand why he had been so frightened, what had she done wrong and how could she make him smile.
The grumbling of the colt's stomach brought Pinkie out of her contemplation. Looking down saw that the had a look of meek embarrassment on his face. Pinkie's smile returned to her face since she knew exactly what the colt needed. Reaching into her pink curly mane Pinkie pulled out the box of cupcakes she had prepared earlier.
The colt watched with curiosity as Pinkie opened the box and with a single hoof pulled out a cupcake and placed it in front of him. The colt stared at the cupcake for a moment then looked up at Pinkie with questioning eyes.
"Yes it's for you" Pinkie assured the colt and gave the him an encouraging nudge towards the baked sweet. In an attempt to copy Pinkie's actions he reached out with a hoof and tried to grab the cupcake and was rewarded with a hoof full of colourful icing. Groaning in frustration he brought his hoof face and stared at his hoof giving it the evil eye. Mumbling something unintelligible he let out a sigh he leaned forward and licked some of the sweet frosting from his hoof. A smile spread across his face as the rich icing teased his tongue. Licking his hoof clean of frosting his attention turned towards the offending pastry occupying the floor in front of him. Moving his head closer he stuffed his face into the cupcake and took a large bite. A moan of satisfaction escaped his throat. To Pinkie's delight he proceeded to quickly devour the rest of the sweet treat.
He looked up at Pinkie, frosting stained his the fur on parts his nose and the edges mouth. He wore a grateful smile on his face which caused Pinkie's heart to flutter with joy. He then said something in a questioning tone that Pinkie did not understand. She tilted her head in confusion, she let out a short gasp as she realized the colt spoke a different language. If he did not understand her then that would explain his reaction when she tried to initially welcome him. He asked the same question again but this time pointed towards the box of cupcakes then back at himself.
"Of course you can have another cupcake", said Pinkie as she realized what it was her wanted. She reached into the box and pulled out another cupcake and held it in front of the colt. He leaned forward and quickly devoured the offered pastry. Letting out a satisfied sigh the colt leaned into Pinkie's warm body and nuzzling her soft fur in thanks. An overwhelming sense of joy washed over Pinkie causing her to return the the embrace with an even tighter hug of her own.
"Pinkie what are you doing with my patient on the floor?" came an accusing voice from the door of the room. Looking towards the door Pinkie saw Doctor Horse standing just inside threshold of the room with a slight frown on his face. Behind him followed an older sky blue pegasus with a pure white mane whom Pinkie recognized as Caring Skies.
Pinkie took in a deep breath and began to explain, "He fell off the bed and started to cry and since I did not have a bag of flour near by to make him laugh I laid down next to him and held him in a comforting hug until he calmed down. His stomach then made hungry noises so I gave him some cupcakes and now we're friends."
"And why did he fall off the bed?", asked Doctor Horse with stern eyes cast towards onto the Pinkie.
A sheepish laugh escaped Pinkie, "Well I think I may have startled him when I did my welcome to Ponyville speech since he does not speak Equestrian."
The Caring Skies raised an eyebrow at this new bit of information and turned her attention to the young colt laying in Pinkie's hooves skeptical of the fact he didn't speak Equestrian. Caring Skies approached him and lowered herself down onto her stomach so she would be eye level with him. He hid his face in Pinkie's fur as he shook in fear at the proximity of a new pony. "You're OK, I promise no one will hurt you", Pinkie said in a soothing voice while she reassuringly rubbed her hoof on his withers. At Pinkie's touch seemed work and he calmed down enough to pry his face away from her fur.
Caring Skies wondered what horrible thing the colt had been through to make him this way. She was glad to see that he at least saw Pinkie as a pony he felt safe around and could trust. She could eventually use this relationship to help him open up a bit more, but first she had to see if Pinkie was correct.
"Hello little one my name is Caring Skies. What's your name?" ,the colt stayed silent staring at her with a confused look. Caring Skies tried a second time, "If you can understand me nod your head". This time he blinked a few times then responded in a language that she did not recognize.
With a sigh she turned to the Doctor, "I don't recognize the language, how about you Doc?"
"Unfortunately no" said Doctor Horse while shaking his head, "But the language barrier can be tackled later. Since he seems calmer now lets get him on the bed so I can do a proper check-up to make sure there isn't anything else wrong other than his fearful demeanor."
The colt cautiously watched with ears pinned to the top of his head as the Doctor walked up to side of the bed. Using a hoof Doctor Horse tapped the top of the bed, "Common, up on the bed you go", Doctor Horse said in an encouraging voice.
Caring Skies watched the colt's reaction, he seemed was unsure of the situation but was not shaking in fear this time. He stared at the Doctor for a minute then turned to look up at Pinkie with worried eyes. "Pinkie", Caring skies started, "I think you will need to encourage him somehow"
"Oooooo!", exclaimed Pinkie after a moment of consideration, "I have just the thing." she reached into the box that was at her side and pulled out another colourful cupcake and held it in front of the colt's face. His eyes lit up and he leaned forward in an attempt to take a bite. "Not so fast buddy" Pinkie said while shaking her head and moving the cupcake just out of his reach, "First you need to get up on the bed." Pinkie pointed towards the bed with her free hoof.
The colt nodded understanding of what Pinkie wanted, shakily used his forelimbs to push himself into a sitting position. Everyone became worried after a few moments, the colt was just sitting there with a look of intense concentration but nothing was happening. Eventually he gave up and looked at his rear legs then up up at Pinkie with teary pleading eyes. He obviously did not understand why his body was not cooperating. Pinkie's heart sank, she reached out with her hooves and embraced the colt in a tight hug. "Don't you worry the Doc will have you fixed in no time", Pinkie cooed reassuringly to the distraught colt.
Caring Skies and Doctor Horse exchanged worried looks. "You don't think the colt's hind legs are paralyzed do you?" Caring skies asked. Pinkie let out a gasp and the colt even tighter when she heard the question.
"I won't know until I run my tests." Doctor Horse turned to Pinkie, "Pinkie can I get you to lift the colt onto the bed so I can run some quick tests on him?"
Pinkie nodded, released her grip on the colt then lowering her muzzle. Using her mouth she picked him up by the scruff of his neck. He let out a yelp of surprise as he left the ground. Pinkie reared up on her hind legs she braced herself against the bed with her forelimbs. Gently she lowered the colt onto the bed.
Doctor Horse reached out with his hooves, the colt shied away and let out a whimper at the Doctor's touch but otherwise did not resist. Doctor hooves closed his eyes as he ran his hooves over the colt. In his minds eye the Doctors earth pony magic allowed fine details of the colts body became visible. he paid extra attention the the colt's lower back trying to find any damage that would inhibit his movement but found nothing. To Doctor Horse's eyes physically the colt was in good health. As a final test Doctor Hooves gently stroked the bottom of the colt's hooves, hitting a ticklish spot the colt's leg jerked back on reflex.
A sigh of relief escaped Doctor Horse, "Good news, I can confirm the colt still has feeling in hind legs, but that could mean he may have suffered some kind of brain damage that has made him forget how to use parts of his body." explained Doctor hooves, "I will need to run more test but that can wait for later." Doctor hooves motioned towards the colt who Let out a large yawn, "I think we should let him rest for a bit as he has been through allot today."
"I agree" said Caring Skies, " But I think we need to give him a name. We can't keep referring to him as 'the colt'"
Pinkie's hoof rose, "Ooo, pick me, pick me", she exclaimed
Caring Skies rolled her eyes at Pinkie's antics, "Yes Pinkie, what do you suggest?"
"I was thinking since he has soft white fur and I found him in almost covered in a pile of fresh snow we should call him 'Soft Snow'"
Caring Skies considered the name for a second, it fit the colt well. Looking towards the Doctor She asked, "Any objections?"
"Sounds good to me", Doctor Horse simply stated.
"Then it is decided until we are told otherwise we'll call him Soft Snow"
Soft Snow let out a yawn, he felt exhausted from the day's revelations. He curled himself into a ball and rested his head against the soft fur of his belly and closed his eyes.
The larger pony like creatures were huddled together talking among themselves in their weird language. They seemed to come to an agreement as they fell silent. The sound of hooves striking the floor caused his ears to perk up. Something warm and soft brushed against his face, the touch was soothing and calmed his racing mind. He opened his eyes and saw the pink pony's muzzle less than a foot away from his face, she looked at him with a joyful expression on her face. Opening her mouth she spoke in a happy but final tone, as if promising something.
Bouncing towards the door she left the room. His eyes felt heavy but he managed a soft smile as he watched her leave. Closing his eyes once more, he let the world of the dreaming quickly claim him.
Pinkie bounced into the hall, where Caring Skies and Doctor Horse were talking quietly among themselves, their backs turned to Pinkie. Silently she crept closer to the two ponies to better hear what they were saying.
"Are you sure you want ask her to do that, she has a reputation and may be too immature for that role."
"Yes, I'm sure. No one has come forward as his parents yet so I will have to find somepony to foster him. You saw the way he acts around her, he trusts her and that is what is most important at the moment."
"I still think somepony else would be better"
"What are you talking about?" interrupted Pinkie causing both ponies to jump in surprise.
They turned and glared at her. Pinkie rolling around giggling "You should've seen your faces, it was priceless." Doctor Horse gestured with a hoof and silently mouthed 'See' to Caring Skies.
Caring Skies rolled her eyes at the doctor then took a moment to compose herself. "Pinkie...”, she started unsure how to approach the subject with her she decided to test the waters, “I noticed the colt... I mean Soft Snow seems to like you"
"Of course he does silly. Everypony likes me", confirmed Pinkie.
"What she means is you seem to have calming effect on him" Doctor Horse interjected "and we were wondering if we could enlist your help later today so we can finish his diagnosis." Caring Skies raised an eyebrow at Doctor Horse, she had not been expecting him to suddenly change his position.
"Ah, yes. Your assistance would be greatly appreciated" Caring Skies confirmed still skeptical of the Doctor Horse's intentions.
Pinkie's smile grew, "You can count on me." A giggle escaped her mouth as she gave an exaggerated salute.
"Thanks Pinkie, we'll see you in a couple of hours once Soft Snow has finished his nap", With that Caring Skies and Doctor Horse left Pinkie and walked towards her office.
Standing in front of the door she turned to look at Doctor Horse, "What made you change your opinion of Pinkie?"
"Nothing, I still don't think Pinkie would make a good long term foster parent but I am willing to give her a chance to prove me wrong".
Pinkie trotted, smiling cheerfully, the streets were quiet as few ponies willing to brave the elements. A small contingent of earth ponies worked diligently to clean streets, creating large snow banks against the sides of buildings that lined the road. After rounding a bend, Sugarcube Corner came into view.
The bell above the door rang as she entered, "Welcome to Sugarcube Corner! What can I get you today?", said Mrs Cake from behind the counter. Mrs Cake was bored, few ponies had yet to visit her humble establishment due to the deep snow. Seeing it was only Pinkie who had walked in made her slightly disappointed, but she was careful not to let it show.
"Hello Mrs Cake," greeted Pinkie while looking at the deserted interior of the establishment. "I see you weren't kidding when you said it was going to be a quiet day."
"Hello dear. I think it will pick up soon, the streets are almost cleared," Mrs Cake said with a sigh, "How did welcoming the new colt to Ponyville go?"
Pinkie took a deep breath and told Mrs Cake about her encounter with the colt. She told her how he started off scared but after a long hug and some cupcakes he seemed to warm up. Mrs Cake nodded and smiled at the information but one thing bothered her, "Were they able to locate his parents?"
"Unfortunately no. I heard Caring Skies mention she put out missing foal notices for the colt but no one has come forward yet," Pinkie explained, her expression wilting. After a moment, she brightened as an idea popped into her head. "Oh! I know, I will get him the most super fantastic 'I am going to do everything I can to help you' present to cheer him up!"
"That's a great thought, have any ideas?"
"Hmm", Pinkie tapped her hoof against her chin in thought. "Ooo! How about....." She began but then shook her head, "Nope, never mind that won't work." Pinkie sat herself on the floor and resumed a position of contemplation.
Two minutes passed and Mrs Cake began to worry for her as she sat there unmoving as if petrified. Cautiously she approached her, "Pinkie?", Mrs Cake Tentatively asked gently giving Pinkie a nudge with her hoof. Frowning she tried once more to rouse the frozen pony.
"Ah-ha!" exclaimed Pinkie causing Mrs Cake to jump back in surprise. "I know the perfect present." Promptly getting up she galloped by the recovering Mrs Cake, up the stairs and out of sight.
Nurse Red Heart walked down the hall, her shift had just started and she had her eyes peeled looking for Lemon Heart so she could relieve her. She had been through most of the hospital but there was still no sign of her. Looking in the room on her right she finally found her, she was having a conversation with a lone stallion and from the tangled state of her mane she did not seem to be enjoying it.
Red Heart waited outside the door for Lemon Heart to finish with her patient. She did not have to wait long as Lemon Heart soon came storming out of the room slamming the door behind her. "Tough day?" she asked drawing the attention of her frazzled co-worker.
"Nah, it’s been fine, I just can't stand that patient." She let out a sigh, "He keeps calling me Lemon Drops as he tries to flirt. It's so aggravating I want to scream."
Red Heart let out a little chuckle, "Well other than your flirtatious friend is there anyone else I should be keeping an eye on, Lemon Drops?"
"Don't you start!" she warned, giving her an annoyed glare.
"Sorry, I couldn’t help myself."
"It's fine", Lemon Heart assured taking in a deep breath to calm herself. "There is one other patient you should keep an eye on though. You know the colt that you admitted last night?" Red Heart nodded remembering a distraught Pinkie holding a shivering colt. "He has had a couple of incidents since he woke up."
"Oh? What happened?"
As they walked down the hall towards the locker room Lemon Heart explained what had that morning. A frown appeared on Red Heart’s face and only grew deeper the longer she listened.
Red heart let out a mournful sigh as they stopped outside the door to the locker room, "That’s a bit concerning. I’ll be sure to check on him every so often."
"That would be best" Lemon Heart agreed while she opened the door, "Well, talk to you later." The door closed behind her leaving Red Heart alone in the hall.
Deciding to check on the colt first she made her way down the hall. Poking her head into his room she saw that he was curled up in a ball sleeping contently. Not wanting to disturb him she quietly exited the room.
Making her way back to the lobby she checked up on some of the other patients currently residing in the wing. The most interesting patient was an older stallion who had recently fallen and broken his hip. He was almost ready to be discharged and was in good spirits, telling her many stories about his misadventures. While she enjoyed hearing people's life stories, she was on duty and had to excuse herself after fifteen minutes.
Sitting behind the desk in the lobby she looked over her patient files trying to decide where she should make her rounds next.
"Hey Red Heart", said a cheerful feminine voice from the other side of her desk.
Looking up she saw Pinkie standing in front of her. "Hello Pinkie. Here to see the colt... I mean Soft Snow?"
"Yup," exclaimed Pinkie, "and I even brought him a super fantastic present!"
"Can the present giving wait for a bit? He was asleep last time I checked and I don't want to disturb him."
Soft Snow slowly began to stir, opening his eyes he was greeted with a wall of soft white fur. His heart raced momentarily but quickly calmed down as he remembered he was looking at his own fur. He doubted he would ever get used to seeing his new body. Looking around the empty room caused him to shiver, he was alone and he hated being alone. His last family member was dead and to make it worse he was stuck in a clumsy unfamiliar body. Curling himself into a tighter ball he sobbed quietly into his fur.
His brooding was interrupted by an uncomfortable pressure forming in his lower body. It was a new sensation but he quickly figured out what it meant, he had to go to the bathroom. Using his forelimbs he pushed himself into a sitting position and looked forlornly towards the door of the bathroom. Remembering his earlier attempt to walk he looked down at his hind legs and tried to will them to move. He could feel mattress under his legs but no matter how hard he concentrated his legs would not cooperate.
The need to go was becoming more intense, with great effort he pushed himself to the edge of the bed. He looked at his forehooves with disdain at their inability to grip anything. He dug his hooves into the bed hoping it would allow some grip as he lowered himself down towards the floor. Half way down his hooves slipped.
~thump~
"Ouch", he groaned as his body hit the cold tiled surface. After taking a quick breath, he reached forward with a hoof hoping to find some purchase on the smooth floor. He tried to drag himself forward but instantly lost his grip and rolled onto his side. Taking care to right himself he tried once more, this time instead of the using his hoof he used rested a large portion of his forelimb on the ground. He attempted to pull himself forward once more, ever so slightly his body moved. Repeating the motion with his other leg he crawled ever so slightly towards his goal.
Every inch forward was required more and more effort to progress. Three quarters of the way to the bathroom, his forelimbs refused to cooperate further, they had no strength left in them and felt like jello. The need to go was reaching a bursting point and he was unsure if he could hold it much longer.
"Help!", he desperately called out, hoping someone would hear his cry.
The sound of galloping hooves on hard tile could be heard coming down the hall. The door flung open and a white pony with a pink mane entered the room followed by the familiar pink pony. The white pony tried to approach him but he shied away from her presence. Looking over her shoulder she motioned for the pink pony to try.
The pink pony approached him, lowering herself down onto her belly she looked into his eyes, concern was plastered across her face. She said something in her own language in soft tone.
"I need to pee", he wined hoping she would understand him. She stared back at him confused so he tried again, "I need to pee." This time he motioned weakly with a numb forelimb towards the door of the washroom. Her gaze followed his hoof, her demeanor brightened with understanding.
Standing up she took a step towards him. Using her mouth the she picked him up by the scruff of his neck. Dangling in the air Soft Snow could not help but reflect on how weird being carried like that was.
When they entered the washroom he was surprised to see that the only thing he was not familiar with was the toilet itself. Gone were the large porcelain thrones, in their place was a elevated platform with a long oval porcelain hole in the middle. On either side there were indents where one could comfortably rest their hooves. A small pedal was placed just to the side of the front left indent
The pink pony carried him over and slowly lowered him towards the toilet allowing him to properly seat his fore-hooves. His rear legs though simply collapsed as soon as weight was applied to them. Fortunately his legs were spread far enough apart that his body ended up resting in a impromptu squatting position.
The she let go of his scruff, the sudden shift weight caused him to lose his balance. He let out a yelp as he rolled forward and fell into the bowl. He heard giggling coming from above him, cheeks reddening he flailed about trying to right himself on the slippery surface. Once he righted himself he turned to the pink pony and gave her an angry pout.
Her laughing stopped and she reached down and picked him up once more.and repositioned him careful and held on. He was a embarrassed to have someone standing over him as the went. Taking a deep breath to calm his nervousness he relieved himself.
The she moved him off to the side, placing him on the floor. The white pony who had been standing watch from just outside the door entered and hoofed over a clean washcloth. Once his hooves were wiped down the pink pony picked him up and placed him on her back and trotted happily out of the washroom.
Exiting the washroom Pinkie found a nice clear area near the window. Gently she placed Soft Snow on the floor, "I got you a present", she said in a sing song voice. Pinkie pulled a ball out from behind her back and placed it on the ground. Using his forelimbs, he pushed himself into a sitting position. He looked at the ball, then up at back up at her trying to figure out where she had obtained it. She gave the ball a soft nudge, it rolled until it came to a stop inches from his hooves.
A smile spread across his face as pulled himself closer to the ball. With both forehooves he reached forward and tried to grip the ball, but much to his ire it slipped out of his grip. Flailing his fore-hooves he tried to get it back under his control but it was to late and it rolled out of his reach.
"I got it", exclaimed Pinkie as she dashed to intercept the ball.
"When you said you brought him an amazing present, I wasn’t expecting a ball", interjected Red Heart who had been watching Pinkie interact with the colt.
"You got something against balls?" Pinkie asked, giving Red Heart an accusing glare while she rolled the it back towards Soft Snow.
"No of course not,” she assured waving a hoof in a dismissive gesture, ”I was just expecting something else."
"Well a ball is perfect, he can play with it anywhere and it's the perfect thing to help with his coordination."
"Huh… You’re right, a ball is the perfect present for him", Red Heart was dumbstruck, she never thought that Pinkie to be so resourceful in anything that did not involve a party.
Pinkie nodded in agreement then turned her attention back to Soft Snow who instead of trying to grab simply attempted to kick the ball back in Pinkie's general direction. The sudden shift in weight from his movements caused him to lose his balance making him to face plant into the floor. They both gasped worried he had hurt himself but instead of crying he broke into a fit of laughter though which made Pinkie grin, determined to keep the game going she retrieved the ball.
His next wild uncontrolled kick sent the ball flying towards Red Heart. She looked at the ball sitting in front of her hooves then back at Soft Snow who was giving her an expectant look with puppy dog eyes. Letting out a sigh of submission she joined the game. In an impressive display of coordination she took the ball and began pass between each of her hooves before sending it back towards the colt.
He smiled and broke into laughter as the ball was rolled back to him. In an attempt to emulate her he attempted to roll the ball between his forelimbs but promptly made friends with the tiled floor once more.
The game went on for half an hour. Soft Snow seemed to have warmed up to Nurse Red Heart. He was also getting better at using forelimbs and could now return the ball to them with a fair bit of accuracy, though he still tended to lose his balance.
A soft rumble emanated from the colt causing him to shy away in embarrassment from the two mare's amused expressions. "Looks like somepony is hungry," Red Heart let out a little chuckle, "Pinkie, why don't you get Soft snow situated on the bed and I will go grab something for him eat."
"Okie Dokie!" Lifting him up off the floor, Pinkie made her way towards the bed and carefully placed him on it while Red Heart exited the room.
Soft Snow laid on his bed letting out a content sigh, remnants of his meal stained his fur around his mouth and hooves causing them to have a sticky sensation. Curious to test his new adhesiveness he quietly dragged himself closer to the unsuspecting nurse who was currently in deep conversation with the Pink Pony.
Settling down into a makeshift crouching position he prepared himself for his attack. Using his forelimbs he propelled himself forward wrapping his hooves around her neck. Taken completely by surprise she reared up on her hind legs while letting out a surprised whinny. The test failed and he was sent flying backwards, bouncing twice on his bed he finally came to rest on his pillow causing him to burst into laughter.
The nurse held her hoof over her mouth and her cheeks were glowing crimson with embarrassment. She shot him an annoyed glare and did her best to wipe off some of the sticky mess left behind. Turning to the pink pony she pointed towards the washroom as she spoke.
Nodding the pink pony left the room then promptly reappeared with a bucket of soapy water with a washcloth on her back. Taking the washcloth in her mouth the white pony dipped it in the soapy water. Shifting the cloth to her hoof she reached out and began to clean the food from his fur.
The door opened and two familiar ponies walked into the room just as she finished cleaning him. They spoke briefly with the nurse then the brown stallion approached his bed. He was initially nervous but he buried the feeling, none of the ponies had given him any reason for him not to trust them instead they seemed to doing everything in their power to help him.
The stallion spoke in a comforting voice, closing his eyes he reached out with his hooves and gently moved them across Soft Snow's head. A slight tingling sensation followed where the hooves had made contact with his hide forcing Soft Snow to keep his body from violently shivering.
After a couple of minutes he stopped and withdrew his hooves.
Doctor Hooves let out a sigh, he was unable to to find any sort of head injury that could explain why Soft Snow seemed to have trouble with his body. He turned to face the others, "I can't find anything wrong with him, every scan I have run points to him being a perfectly healthy earth pony colt."
"That's good news, right?" Pinkie tentatively asked looking between Caring Skies and the Doctor.
"Normally yes, but in this case there is something obviously wrong but I can't tell you what it is and if the colt knows what has happened to him he can't tell us due to the language barrier."
"Are there any treatments you would recommend?" asked Caring Skies.
"As I said there is nothing wrong with him from my point of view so unfortunately there is nothing I can do to treat his condition immediately. One thing we can do though is start him on physical therapy. Hopefully in time we can get him back on his hooves."
Pinkie was concerned, young foals were supposed to run around, laugh and have fun but Soft Snow would be denied this. Wanting to do something do something more for him Pinkie looked up Caring Skies, “Is there anything I can do to help?”
“Well there is one thing, but I want you to think long and hard about your decision,” Pinkie nodded waiting for her to continue “Since no one has come forward as his parents I need to find somepony to foster him.” She took a moment to give Pinkie a serious look. “And I was wondering if you would consider taking him in? “
The room was silent for a full minute, Pinkie's expression unreadable as if she had been petrified. Pinkie’s opened her mouth to respond but she could not find her voice. “You...” she stuttered, “You really want me foster him?” disbelieving what was asked of her.
“I do”, assured Caring Skies nodding her head reassuringly, “But If you accept you must understand that he would be your responsibility to care for. Which will be much harder than normal as he will need somepony nearby at all times to assist him due to his condition. You will also have to provide him with a healthy diet not just pastries, when he is hurt or sick you will need to ensure he gets the medical attention he needs and once we figure out how to tackle the language barrier he will need to attend school."
"When you put it like that it sounds kind of scary, but.." She looked down at Soft Snow who looked into her eyes and gave her a small smile. That was all the encouragement she needed looking at Caring Skies with fiery resolve burning in her eyes, "If this is how I can help, I want to try."
“I am glad to hear that and to be honest if you weren’t a little bit intimidated I would be worried,” she assured, resting a hoof on Pinkie's shoulder. “Now Soft Snow will need to stay here at the hospital till the end of the week so we make sure there are no other complications. It should also allow us to get him on a good physical therapy routine. You should use this time to prepare to take him home”
Cupcake slowly began to stir, warm morning light illuminated the room. She opened her eyes, let out a yawn, stretched and brought a forelimb up to her face to rub the sleep from her eyes. Looking to the side she was greeted with the sight of her husband sleeping contently. Reaching out she gave him a nudge, "Honey, time to get up."
Shaking off her hoof, Carrot Cake rolled over mumbling something unintelligible. It was always a struggle to get her husband out of bed in the morning. Not willing to let him fall back asleep she tried once more to rouse him. "Today will be busy and we will need the extra time to prepare", she insisted but was quickly shrugged off once more. Letting out a sigh she got up and took a couple of steps towards the door then looked back over her shoulder. "Fine, I am going to freshen up but if you are still in bed by the time I come back I will bring the twins, and you know how much they love to wake up Papa." A devilish smile crept across her face.
She watched his ears twitch as his tired mind processed the information. A moment later his eyes opened wide and he shot up into a sitting position. "I'm up. I'm up." Letting out a giggle at his reaction she left the room.
With great efficiency she cleaned herself up and styled her mane. She exited the bathroom she made her way down the hall to check on Pound and Pumpkin. Slowly she opened the door and peeked inside. Pound Cake had once again found his way into Pumpkin's bed. She smiled at the sight, Pumpkin had her hooves wrapped around her brother holding him tight like an oversized stuffed animal. Not wanting to disturb their slumber she slowly backed her way out of the room and softly closed the door.
~CRASH~
Cupcake jumped and let out a short startled yelp. Remembering that the twins were still sleeping she held her breath hoping they had not been awoken. Moments passed then she let out a sigh of relief as their room remained quiet.
Turning her attention to the source of the noise she made her way down the hall and up a set of stairs. As she approached a bright pink door the sounds moving objects became more pronounced. Reaching up with a hoof she knocked on the door. "Pinkie?", she inquired unsure if she really wanted to know what was happening on the other side of the door.
The shuffling stopped and the door opened revealing a smiling Pinkie. "Oh, hey Mrs. Cake, Sorry about the noise I was just cleaning my room." Pinkie stepped to the side reveal an almost spotless room with only a small pile of random objects sitting next to a rug.
"Well that's fine, but can you keep the noise down? The twins are still sleeping."
"Sorry", Pinkie said with a sheepish smile while rubbing her mane with a hoof, "I kinda forgot about them since I have so many more things I need to get ready for the weekend. Oh that reminds me, do you have a spare cot that I could set up in my room?"
Mrs Cake tilted her head confused, "Why do you need a cot?"
"Well... when I was visiting Soft Snow yesterday...”
“Soft Snow?”
“It’s the name we gave the lost colt.” She nodded her head, “Well anyway, Caring Skies asked if I would be willing to be his foster parent and I said yes!"
Mrs Cake thought processes ground to a screeching halt, she opened her mouth to say something but she could not find her voice. She just stared at Pinkie in shock. After a minute of silence Mrs Cake found her voice once more. "Pinkie", she began adopting a stern voice, "We need to talk."
"Sure thing", Pinkie said ushering Mrs Cake into her room. "Just let me put away these last couple things" Mrs Cake made herself conformable on a chair across from a small love seat. She watched Pinkie as she lifted her rug and swept the pile of random object under it creating a rather noticeable bulge. Pinkie eyed the bulge for a second then began jump on it. Every time she landed the bulge became smaller until the rug was once more flush with the floor. Satisfied with her work she made her way over to the love seat and sat herself down. "So what do you want to talk about?"
Mrs Cake brought a hoof up to her mouth and let a small cough, most of the time Pinkie's antics did not phase her but every once in awhile she would do something that caught her off guard. "Pinkie…”, She began after finding her voice, “Before I start, know that I would never turn away a foal in need, but since we are your landlords you should of talked with us before agreeing to be a foster parent."
Pinkie lost some of her cheerfulness and shied away slightly from Mrs Cake's scolding. "Sorry", she mumbled looking down at her hooves.
"It’s fine Pinkie", assured Mrs Cake which made Pinkie look up at her with a hopeful smile, "We share many common areas in this building so in the future I want you to promise that you will consult with myself or Carrot before you make any decisions that could change the social dynamic of this household."
Pinkie nodded, "I promise", she went through the motions for her particular brand of promise.
"Good", said Mrs Cake her tone brightening, "Now then, when do I get to meet my new nephew!"
The morning air was brisk with a gentle wind picking up little tufts of snow causing the flakes to perform a slow dance across the road.
"Do you really need to drag me there in your magic?" complained Rainbow Dash, her forelimbs crossed as she cast an annoyed glare at a particular unicorn from within the cyan aura of her magic.
"Well would you come willingly otherwise?"
"Well no but.."
"My point exactly. Anyways, there is nothing better than the spa the day after the first snowfall. A warm mud bath is the perfect thing to take the the chills out of your bones."
"Come on Rainbow, it won't be so bad. I could use a bit of time to relax after getting the farm ready for winter", Applejack assured. "Though I think I’ll skip the mud bath," Applejack’s face contorted in disgust. "I get enough dirt on myself working the farm so I see no reason why I would bathe in it. Ah'm looking forward to curl up and doze off in a nice warm Sauna."
"Um.. I just want to soak in a nice warm bath", said a timid voice hiding behind a pink mane, Fluttershy had been trying her best not to involve herself in her friends bickering.
"Well I guess to each their own, I'm just glad that you girls could join me today."
They rounded the corner and Sugarcube Corner could be seen fast approaching in the distance. "I'm disappointed that Twilight was too busy to join us but I’m sure Pinkie will be thrilled to come." As if reading her mind the door to Sugarcube Corner opened revealing Pinkie. "Pinkie!", exclaimed Rarity while waving a hoof trying getting her attention.
“Hey guys, what’s up?" asked Pinkie as she waved back and made her way towards her friends.
"We were just heading to the spa and were wondering if your would care to join us?"
"Sorry I can't, I need some reading material on how to properly care for my foal." Rarity's magic suddenly faltered and Rainbow Dash fell to the ground barely noticing the impact, all four of them stared in shock at Pinkie's revelation. "Have fun at the spa!" Pinkie called, already bouncing down the street.
Applejack was the first to recover and rushed forward and clamped down on Pinkie's tail with her mouth pulling back sharply. "Wo nelly" Applejack began in the sternest voice she could muster, "You’re not going anywhere until you tell us what the hay is going on."
Rarity’s eye’s sparkled, “Yes do tell, who’s the stallion?”
“Hmmmm…. Well over there is Time Turner, near the barrels is Burnt Oak, and by the Spa is Bulk Biceps!”
“Arrrggg! she meant, who’s the father of your foal!”
“I don’t know!”
“Oh my.” Fluttershy raised a hoof up to mouth in shock.
Rainbow flew up and pinkie and got in her face. “How can you be pregnant and not know who the father is?”
“Silly filly, there’s no bun in this oven.” Pinkie waved a hoof dismissively, “I’m going to foster Soft Snow!” Pinkie then shared the story of how she found Snow and ended up agreeing to be his foster parent..
Rainbow’s face became contorted with anger, “Let me get this straight, a foal was left to fend for itself in the middle of an Everfree storm?” Pinkie nodded.
Fluttershy flew up to her enraged friend and placed a hoof on her withers “It’s ok Rainbow, Pinkie found him so he’s safe now.”
“Who the buck forgets about their foal anyway!”
“Ah’m right disappointed myself but Fluttershy is right, he’s safe now so there is no point getting our tails in a knot.”
Dash let out a sigh and looked at Applejack, “I suppose you're right.”
Rarity took advantage of the lull in the conversation and turned to Pinkie,"Pinkie, it sure sounds like you will have your hooves full but I am impressed you took the initiative to do something so important for Snow." Rarity placed a hoof on Pinkie’s withers, "I may not be a parent but Sweetie stays at my place often enough that I have picked up a few tricks on how to handle foals. If you need any help I would be more than willing to lend a hoof."
“Aww, Thanks guys.”
"Oh it's no problem dear. Now we won't keep you anymore" Pinkie nodded, waved at her friends then departed. Rarity turned to face her other friends, "Now then off to the spa!", she exclaimed triumphantly. She blinked noticing that Rainbow Dash was missing. Looking around she tried to spot her. In the distance she heard a loud boom and let out a sigh of disappointment.
Pinkie stuck her head through the door of the castle's library scanning the room for Twilight. At the far end she saw her hunched over a desk with a book. A quill was held in her magical aura and she was vigorously taking notes oblivious to her surroundings.
Pinkie smiled brightly as she approached her friend. "Hey Twilight", she called out loud enough to get her attention.
"Hmm Huh?" Twilight looked up from her book, "Oh hey! Pinkie, what brings you by?"
"Do you have any books on parenting or raising foals?"
Twilight got up from her desk and made her way towards a bookcase to her left, "Anything we have on parenting should be over here." She scanned the titles pulling out the odd book that she thought Pinkie might be useful. “Are you looking for foalsitting tips for when the Cakes leave the twins with you?”, she asked adding a fifth book to her ever increasing pile.
“Nope, I will have my own foal running around soon and I need some pointers on parenting.”
“What!?”
Pinkie bounced down the hall of the hospital towards Snow’s room, behind her followed Twilight who was wearing a saddle bag filled with various books she thought would be helpful for Soft Snow’s first equish lesson.
“It surprises me though that no one seems to know his language. Maybe I could help, I may only be fluent in two other languages but I should be able to identify which one he speaks.”
“Oh that would be perfect”, she rushed forward and wrapped her a tight hug. “I knew I could count on your help with this!”
“Pinkie!”, called a voice from behind them. Pinkie stopped, looked over her shoulder and saw Caring Skies making her way towards them.
“Good morning, Caring Skies!”
“Could I borrow you for a couple of minutes, I need you to sign some papers.”
“Sure thing.”
Pinkie and Twilight followed Skies into her office. Skies took a seat behind her desk and shuffled through the many folders on her desk. “Ah ha!”, she exclaimed stopping at one particular folder, “Here you are.” She pulled out an official looking document and presented it to Pinkie along with a quill. “I need you to sign this document here to officially make you Soft Snow’s legal guardian.”
Pinkie nodded and took the quill in her mouth, neatly she printed her full name where indicated then signed underneath it with her signature.
“Perfect” She took the paper back from Pinkie and added her own signature next to Pinkie’s then placed the paper back in the folder. She looked up at Pinkie and smiled, “Let me be the first to congratulate you on officially becoming a foster parent.”
Pinkie tensed up and a worried look crept across her face. Twilight noticed her apprehension reached forward and gave Pinkie a hug. “Congratulations Pinkie, I know you will do fine.” Her reassurance worked and Pinkie began to calm down.
“Now I won’t keep you any longer, I’m sure Snow will be delighted to see you.”
Pinkie and Twilight left the office and made their way to down the hall. Pinkie stopped in front of door to Soft Snow’s room, reached up with a hoof and gave it three swift knocks before she pushed her way in.
A smile crept across Pinkie’s face as she saw her ward sitting on his bed. Nurse Lemon Heart sat beside him feeding him large spoonfuls of oatmeal. His eyes met hers and he smiled with the spoon in his mouth and waved. Lemon heart frowned slightly as her hoof slipped off the utensil.
“Hey Mister, get back here with that spoon”, berated Lemon Heart with mock irritation while reaching forwards and pulling the spoon out of his mouth. With the spoon once more placed in the half eaten bowl of oatmeal she turned to the new arrivals. “Good morning Pinkie, Princess”, she bowed slightly her head at Twilight.
“Morning, Lemon Heart. I see someone is enjoying their breakfast.” Pinkie approached Soft Snow and gave him a gentle nuzzle on the top of the head.
“Yes he has quite the appetite but I’m still worried about him.” She grabbed another spoonful of oatmeal and presented it front of Soft Snow’s muzzle. He happily opened his mouth and chomped down on the offered spoon.
“What happened?” Pinkie asked with a worried expression.
“Well…”
She had been doing her rounds, but as she walked past Snow’s door she heard soft whimpers coming from the other side. She opened the door and poked her head through. On the bed she saw the colt, crying in his sleep.
She approached him and nuzzled him in an attempt to wake him up from his fitful sleep. He opened his eyes, looked towards her with tears streaming down his face. Without warning he reached forward with his fore-hooves and hugged her tightly, sobbing into her fur.
“Shhhh, it’s alright” she cooed slowly rubbing his back.
After fifteen minutes he had cried himself dry but still clung to her. She looked down at him and let out a sigh, “You know I am going to start to feel bad if every time you see me you have a negative reaction”, she complained.
She nuzzled him once more, wrinkling her nose as she pulled away. “Whew, someone needs a bath.” Using a hoof she shifted Soft Snow around her neck until he was comfortably positioned on her back.
“I feel bad for him, confused and sad but unable to express what could be wrong” added Lemon Heart after finishing her story.
“Well Pinkie and I were going to work on the language issue today. It will take some time but hopefully once he is fluent enough he can tell us what is wrong.”
Soft Snow finished eating, Lemon Heart gathered up the bowl and stood up to leave. “If you need anything just press this button next to his bed.” She pointed to a small button mounted on the wall behind the bed. “Good luck with his first lesson.” She left the room leaving Twilight and Pinkie to their own devices.
Snow sat on his bed and watched as the nurse left the room. The pink and lavender ponies sat in front of him discussing something he could not understand. His attention was drawn the lavender one, not only did she have wings, but protruding from her head was a horn.
Eventually they seemed to have come to an agreement, the pink pony approached him, standing just off to the side of his bed. She made eye contact with him ensuring she had his undivided attention. Raising a hoof she tapped it lightly against her chest while saying something very slowly. Next she did the same with the lavender pony who was stood next to her, this time using different words.
Snow tilted his head in confusion trying to figure out what she was telling him. It became evident that he was not understanding, she looked to her lavender friend and exchanged a few quick words. She nodded tried again, this time slower, repeating herself multiple times.
Snow paid rapt attention to her body language intently trying decipher her meaning. His eyes suddenly brightened in understanding, She was trying to tell him her name. Using a forehoof he pointed towards the pink pony. “~Pintie Pee~”, he tried the foreign syllables slurring in his mouth.
She gave him a smile and nodded her head in encouragement. Once more she pointed to herself and said her name slowly carefully enousiateting each syllable, “~Pinkie Pie~.”
Following her lead he tried once more, “~Pinkie Pie~.”
~Pinkie’s~ face brightened as he pronounced her name correctly. Using her forelegs she reached forward and embraced him in a tight hug. Releasing him she enthusiastically pointed her hoof towards the lavender pony, “~Twilight Sparkle~.”
He followed her lead, “~Dwikight Sartle~.” Pinkie shook her head and repeated herself. It took three tries but eventually he pronounced it correctly, “Twilight Sparkle.” ~Twilight~ gave him a smile and nodded her head.
There was one person in the room who had not been properly introduced yet. Lifting a hoof he pointed to himself and proudly declared, “Massak.”
Twilight stared wide eyed at him. She exclaimed something loudly and turned to Pinkie and went off on a tangent rapidly speaking their language. Eventually Pinkie was able to calm her down.
Turning to Snow Pinkie tried to pronounce his name, “~Qaatap~.” Soft Snow shook his head disapprovingly as she butchered his name. He repeated himself once more for her. “~Taallap~”, she tried again the syllables to his name still lost to her.
She tried for ten minutes to get his name right but no matter how she tried to pronounce his name it came out wrong. He let out a sigh of defeat and slumped down on the bed, he could not think of any way to help her with his name. Looking up at the plain tiled ceiling he tried to think of anything, then a thought occurred to him! He would let them give him a name but was not sure how he would get this across.
Lifting a hoof he pointed at Pinkie, “Pinkie”, he said then moved his hoof to pointed at Twilight. “Twilight.” Lastly he moved his hoof to himself and remained silent and waited for a few moments before he repeated the motions once more.
Pinkie nodded in understanding. She pointed a hoof at him, “~Soft Snow~”, she pronounced slowly and clearly.
Taking his time he repeated the name given to him, “~Soft Snow~.” He wasn’t sure why but the name felt right to him. He looked to Pinkie to ensure he pronounced it correctly, she smiled and nodded. “Soft Snow”, he played with the syllables as they flowed out of his mouth, letting out a small giggle.
Twilight watched as Pinkie taught Snow their names. He had a bit of trouble but after a couple of tries he was able to reproduce their names. When he said his own name though Twilight could not believe her ears, not only was he speaking a different language but he was used sounds she never knew a pony could make. Pinkie had tried her best to reproduce his name but no matter how she tried his name eluded her.
He eventually gave up, and allowed Pinkie to give him the name she had chosen. Much to Twilight’s relief he seemed to like the name given to him. He kept repeating it over and over giggling as he played with the sounds.
“So what should we teach him next?”, asked Pinkie interpreting Twilight's thoughts.
“I’m not sure, I’ve never taught a language before”, Twilight honestly admitted. She brought a hoof up and lightly tapped her chin in thought. “I think we should teach him how to express a ‘want’.”
“A ‘want’?”, Pinkie gave twilight a confused look.
“You know, A ‘want’. For example ‘I want a cupcake’”
“Really!?”, she reached into her mane and pulled out a box and opened it to reveal a large number of frosting covered treats. “I was going to share these later but you can have one now.”
Twilight promptly faced hooved, “Pinkie, I was giving an example. I don’t actually ‘want’ a cupcake.” She motioned with a hoof towards Snow. “With his mobility challenges it is important learn how to express his needs to others so he can obtain assistance.”
“I know, but this talk of cupcakes made me hungry so I thought we could use a snack” She popped one of the treats into her mouth swallowing it whole.
Twilight shook her head, she looked past Pinkie and saw Snow eying the box of cupcakes intently. “Ah ha”, exclaimed Twilight, “I know how we can teach him this.” She pointed toward the cupcakes, “Offer him a cupcake but teach him how to properly ask for it. But first let's teach ‘yes’ and ‘no’”
“Good idea Twily.” She began to nod her head up and down, “Yes”, then shook her head side to side, “No”. He watched her body language intently, eyes brightening in understanding reproduced ‘yes’ and ‘no’ while imitating Pinkie’s motions.
Satisfied she reached into the box and pulled out a cupcake with light blue frosting on top and turned to face Soft Snow. “Cupcake”, she said while presenting it to Snow.
He stared at the pastry for a moment seeming to think over the new word. “~Cupcake~”, He repeated the word back to her.
“Good job!”, Pinkie praised and gave him a gentle pat on the head. Next she pointed a hoof towards him then the cupcake, “Yes want cupcake?” She nodded her head up and down, then began to shake her head side to side, “No want cupcake.”
He mulled over the new word combination then gave Pinkie an uncertain look. “Yes want cupcake”, he hesitantly repeated back. Pinkie smiled and held out the cupcake for him. He reached forward with his fore-hooves and delicately sandwiched the cupcake between them without crushing it, brought it up to his mouth he took a satisfying bite.
“He is really catching on quickly, I want to try it something else though to make sure he actually understands.” Twilight lit her horn and disappeared in a flash of light.
Snow looked at where Twilight had stood and tilted his head in confusion. He pointed with a hoof where she once stood then looked to Pinkie for answers. “Twilight?”, he began to inquire unsure of the words to properly phrase his question.
Pinkie shrugged and opened her mouth to respond but was interrupted by another flash of purple light. Soft Snow gave a startled yelp and looked wide eyed at Twilight. His eyes drifted from her to three cups which floated in the air wrapped in her lavender aura.
“Let's have him choose what he wants to drink, I brought water as well as orange and apple juice”, said Twilight not noticing the cautious look Snow was giving her.
She used her magic to levitate the cups towards Snow. Fearful of the the unknown force he tried to scurry away from the floating objects.
“Twilight stop, you're scaring him”
Twilight looked over at Soft Snow and saw that he backed himself right up against the headboard. Snow’s eyes were wide in alarm as he attempted to further push himself away from her. She frowned, “Sorry, I was not expecting that kind of reaction.” She brought to cups back towards herself. “I wonder why he is fearful of magic magic?”
“Oh I know Twilight, levitate a cup to me so we can show him that magic won’t hurt him.” Twilight nodded and passed Pinkie one of the cups. Pinkie reached out and grabbed the offered cup, as her hoof passed the outer edge of of Twilight’s aura the fur near the base of her hoof stood up on end as if charged by static electricity. Twilight released her magic once Pinkie had a firm grip on it.
Soft Snow’s fear turned to curiosity upon seeing that Pinkie remained unharmed. He pointed to one of the other cups, slowly Twilight levitated a cup towards him. Reaching out with a hoof he cautiously touched the cup. A giggle escaped his mouth as a ticklish sensation briefly went through the base of his hoof as his fur stood on end.
Satisfied that he would not be harmed, he removed his hoof. Twilight levitated the other two cups next to the first cup. Using her magic, she lowered one of the cups so he could get a good look at its contents.
“Water” said Twilight slowly.
“Wa-ter”, he tried saying each syllable slowly. “Water”, he tried once more saying the word faster.
“Good”, Twilight nodded then moved the cup back, brought the next one forward and repeated the process.
Once he pronounced all three liquids she posed the question, “Soft Snow want which?” Motioning with a hoof to each of the three cups.
He pondered the new word as he watched her body language. Eventually he spoke up, “Soft Snow,” He pointed to himself then motioned towards the middle cup, “Want apple juice.”
“He did it!” exclaimed Pinkie, proud of Snow’s progress.
“We have a good start so far.”, agreed Twilight as she levitated the cup of apple juice towards Soft Snow. “But it will take a lot more work to get him talking equish fluently.”
Soft Snow carefully positioned his hooves on either side of the cup and squeezed gently ensuring she had a firm grip. He took a sip, his eyes widened in delight as the sweet amber liquid touched his tongue. Quickly the contents of the cup disappeared and he let out a satisfied sigh.
He placed the cup on the bed then looked to the Pinkie and Twilight for instructions, they were once more talking amongst themselves unaware he was waiting on them. He cast his eyes around the room and realised that there were many things in the room he did not know the words for.
“Pinkie” he said in an attempt to get her attention. When she turned to look at him he used one hoof and tapped it against the bed. “Want….” he started then was silent, he wanted to ask their word for bed but did not know how to ask.
“Soft Snow want ~bed~?” She tilted her head in confusion.
He was to focused on trying to say the new word to notice Pinkie’s confusion. “B.. be.. Bed!” he exclaimed getting the word to sound right and beamed a smile at Pinkie. He looked around for another object to ask about. His eyes drifted to the cup sitting in front of him, he repeated his motions, “Pinkie, want..”
This time she understood what he was doing. “~What this~” she stated pointing to the cup.
He muld the words in his head for a moment before attempting himself. He tapped the cup once more as he tried the new words, “~What this~”
“~Cup~”, she said and pointed at the cup.
It was Soft Snow’s turn to be confused, she just told him two different words for the same object. “~Cup~”, he repeated not understanding what she was trying to convey with these new words. Deciding to move on rather than let her word play confuse him more he turned his attention to the table next to his bed and tapped it with a hoof. “Pinkie, want..”, he stated just as before.
Pinkie shook her head, “No, Pinkie want” she firmly stated. She pointed to the table, “~What this?~ Yes.”. She nodding her head.
He slowly processed her statement, his eyes widened with understanding. He Tapped his hoof against the table once more he proudly asked the question, “What this?”
“~Good job~, Snow” she praised and gave him a wide smile. She motioned with a hoof towards the table once more, “~Table~.”
He repeated the word back to her then looked for another object. They went back and forth, he would point out an object and she would tell him what it was called. After he pointed out six different things Twilight interrupted Pinkie. she smiled brightly and nodded her head.
She took a couple of steps forward and raised herself up and grabbed him by his scruff. She placed him on her back and made her way around the room pointing out things for him. There were so many new words that he found he could only remember a small portion of them.
Lemon Heart sat behind the front desk in the lobby going through medical charts with a bored expression on her face. Her ears twitched and she looked up, Pinkie, Snow and Twilight enter the lobby.
“What this?”, Snow asked motioning to the many chairs that dotted the lobby
“Chair”, Pinkie simply states.
Lemon Heart smiled, “Hey Pinkie”, she greated. “What brings you by my humble lobby?”
“We taught Snow how to ask what things are. Then Twilight mentioned it would be a good idea to tour the hospital so he could point out things he wanted to know.”
“Well he seems to be catching on quickly.”
“Not quite” Twilight started, “He might be curious but I don’t think he’s remembering many of the words that we tell him. He has asked what a door is three times to far... I’m sure he will get it eventually though.”
“Soft Snow”, Snow spoke up drawing the attention of the older mares as he pointed to himself. He then pointed a hoof towards Lemon Heart and remained silent.
“What’s he trying to say?” asked Lemon Heart confused by his actions.
“Oh, He is introducing himself and wants to know your name.”
“I see.” Lemon Heart pointed to herself, “Lemon Heart.”
Snow mulled over the word silently for a few moments. “Lemon Heart”, he repeated back to her then pointed at himself once more, “Soft Snow”
“It’s good to properly meet you Soft Snow” Snow tilted his head in confusion. “Oh right he does not know enough to understand” She brought up her clipboard to hide an embarrassed smirk.
Twilight looked towards the lobby’s door then turned to Pinkie and spoke up, “Pinkie, I have some things that I have put off that need to get done today.”
“OK, Thanks for your help Twily.”
“Any time.” She waved a hoof dismissively, “I left some reading material in the saddle bags in Snow’s room. Also going forward, talk slowly and point out new words as they pop up but try not to dumb down your grammar too much, this should help him pick up our language.”
“Okie Dokie.”
Twilight looked to Snow, “Bye Soft Snow.” she said and waved.
“Bye Twilight”, he responded back quickly catching on to her meaning.
Once Twilight left the lobby Lemon Heart spoke up, “ Pinkie, before I forget I was told to let you know that Snow’s first therapy session is today at three.”
“Ok.”
“I would love to stay and chat some more but it is time for me to do my rounds” Lemon Heart approached Snow, raised a hoof and playfully ruffled his mane, “Bye Snow”, she said in parting and walked down the hall.
Pinkie entered a large room with Snow lying on her back. The room was dotted with specialized objects to help ponies with different aspects of physical therapy. In one corner hung a harness attached to a set ceiling tracks that snaked around the room.
A forest green unicorn stallion took notice of their entrance and approached Pinkie. “Hello Pinkie”, He started, his eyes locked onto the small ball of white fur riding on her back. “I see you brought my new patient.” The stallion took a couple of steps forward to get a better look at Soft Snow.
“Yep, this is Soft Snow.”
He nodded and got closer to him then spoke in a soft comforting tone, “Hello little one, I’m Dr. Bones.”
He received a blank confused look from Soft Snow, “Um, he doesn’t speak equish yet. We just started teaching him today.”
“Oh”, he coughed slightly into a hoof in embarrassment. “Well then, Pinkie can you confirm a few things for me. The notes I have on him state he is having mobility issues his rear-hooves even though no injury or medical condition could be found to explain his difficulties.”
“That’s right.”
“Hmmm, alright” He nodded then walked over to a padded mat laying on the floor. “Put him down over here and I’ll see what we can do for him.”
Pinkie reached over her shoulder, grabbed Soft Snow by the scruff with her mouth, carried him over to the mat and gently set him down. Bones looked at Pinkie, “I am going to start with checking his range of motion.”
Approaching Snow’s side he encouraged him to roll over onto his side with his muzzel. Snow looked to Pinkie with apprehension visible on his face at the doctor's actions. She smiled and placed a reassuring hoof on his withers. Reaching forward with both forehooves Bones took hold of one of Snow’s forelegs and began to move it slowly testing it’s range of motion.
Satisfied he moved onto his rear leg and repeated his motions. Finishing with the leg he hmmed then encouraged Snow to roll over to his other side and repeated the motions with his other two legs.
“Good news, he seems to have a full range of motion in each leg.” He ‘hmmed’, then repositioned Snow so he was once more laying on his belly. Wrapping his hooves around his barrel he lifted him into a standing position. The tips of Snow’s hooves just touching the mat below. Slowly the doctor shifted Snow’s weight to hooves studying closely how his limbs reacted.
Snow’s forelegs held firm easily supporting him but his back legs quickly gave out as if they were made of rubber.
Bones let out a sigh, “Hmmm.. I don’t see anything that can readily explain his paralysis. My best guess would be some form of mental trauma as the doctors already ruled out the other possibilities”
“But you’ll still be able to help him right?”
“Pinkie I am a doctor not a miracle worker.” started Bones, “I’ll do what I can help him, but it will take time and a lot of effort to see any results. He will not get better over night.”
“So what needs to be done?”
“Today, nothing. This appointment was so I could assess his condition. Now that I have a better idea of what is wrong, I can put together a routine for his next session.” He levitated a piece of paper, a quill, and calendar from his desk and started to write furiously. “Going forward I want to see Snow three times a week.” He stole a quick glance at the calendar, “So that makes our next appointment on Monday. Also, I would like to start him on these exercises,” He offered the piece of paper he was working on to Pinkie. “he will need to do these everyday.”
Pinkie nodded, took the offered piece of paper and stored it in her mane for safe keeping. “Anything else I should know?”
“Nope that should be all for the day.”
She then turned to Snow and lifted him onto her back. “See you in a couple of days”, she stated then left the room.
Snow was tiredly laid on Pinkie’s back with a full belly as they made their way back to his room. They had eaten in the hospital's cafeteria, The food was slightly bland but at least it had been filling.
Entering the room, Pinkie gently lifted him off her back and placed him on his bed. She made her way to the saddle bags sitting near the foot of the bed. She rummaged around in them until finally she lifted out a small red book. She lifted herself up onto the bed and layed next to him.
With the book in front of him he studied the cover. It had a picture of a green lizard using a swing. “what this?” he inquired pointing to the lizard.
“~Alligator~”
He repeated the word as she opened the book. There were many pictures which depicted many things Snow did not know. The story seemed to be about a caramel pony who had a keychain in a similar shape to the Alligator on the cover attached to her saddlebags.
Pinkie began to read the story, she was slow and careful taking time to point out new words to him. He tried his best to follow along but found his understanding lacking but did his best to follow along with the pictures.
He let out a yawn as she finished the story and closed the book. His eyes were heavy and he fought to keep them open. Looking down at him she said something in a soft and cheerful tone as she lowered her head down and gave him a nuzzel. His body grew heavy and as sleep quickly took him.
Snow gave the spoon in front of him an evil glare, Nurse Lemon Heart had brought him breakfast but was called away before she had a chance to assist him with eating. He had tried to emulate the magic magnetic grip others seemed to possess with no success. His efforts often ended up pushing objects he tried to grab further away. He could grab things if he sandwiched objects between both hooves, but this was slow and required a fair bit of effort.
Letting out a sigh he reached forward and grabbed the spoon between his hooves. Leaning forward he lowered the spoon towards his breakfast, but let out a startled yelp as he lost his balance clipping the edge of the bowl. It flipped twice before landing unceremoniously on top of his head.
He crossed his hooves in frustration as his breakfast dripped down the side of his face. “Stupid hooves.” He grumbled his eyes becoming slightly misty, he wanted his old body back. In his new body he was helpless, dependent on others for help.
The door to his room opened, looking up he saw Pinkie standing in the doorway. She had a hoof in front of her mouth trying her best to stop herself from laughing at his predicament. From what he could tell Pinkie, was not a staff member of the hospital but she still spent a fair amount of her free time with him, keeping him company and patiently teaching him new things about this world. He liked and trusted her to help him out. Seeing her laughing at him though reminded him just how useless he was. His ears flattened against his head and he lowered his head, using his hooves to cover his face in a vain attempt to hide the tears now freely flowing down his face.
Pinkie stopped laughing and she let out a concerned gasp. Quickly she made her way to Snow's side and brought him in for a hug. “I'm sorry I shouldn't have laughed.” She loosened her grip and pulled the bowl off his head. A wash cloth was produced from her mane and she began to clean his fur. Most of his breakfast came out but some of the oatmeal still stubbornly clung to his fur but it wasn’t noticeable and could be dealt with later. “There, now let's get you some breakfast you have a big day ahead of you”
Snow did not understand most of what Pinkie said but he did recognize one word: ‘breakfast’. He gave her a nod and his stomach grumbled eagerly at the thought of actually eating food. Pinkie grabbed him by his scruff and deposited him on her back and made her way out of the room.
“ Sign here and Snow is free to leave.” Said Lemon Heart hoofing Pinkie the discharge forms.
Snow was absently looking around, he knew they were talking about him but due to the language barrier he gave up trying to understand. Pinkie’s muscles tensing under him drew his attention as he wondered what she was nervous about. She grabbed an offered quill with her teeth and lowered her head to a sheet of paper in front of her.
“Perfect.” said Caring Skies who stood next to Pinkie. She and took the form and placed it in a folder. Looking up she noticed the apprehensive look in Pinkie’s eyes. “Remember, if you need anything at all, you let me know. Also don’t forget about Snow’s physical therapy session on monday.”
Pinkie’s muscles relaxed and she nodded, “Thanks, I will.”
Stuffing the folder under a her wing Skies turned her attention to Snow. She gave him a smile then spoke in a soft but cheery tone, “Bye Snow, I’m sure you will love living with Pinkie and the Cakes.”
Snow frowned, ‘bye’ meant he was going to be brought back to his room. He didn’t want to go back to his room yet. It meant long hours of boredom sitting on his bed with nothing to do. Pinkie began to move under him, he opened his mouth to protest but stopped, they were not going in the direction of his room.
Snow squinted as they left the hospital, sunlight reflected off the snow covered the landscape temporarily blinding him. He blinked in surprise once his vision had adjusted, ponies of every size, type and colour walked on the frozen gravel paths between the large wooden buildings around them. He had caught glimpses of the town through the window in his room at the hospital, but at that distance it looked like a quiet relaxing painting when in reality it was anything but.
One side street opened up to a large park where he could see young ponies having a snowball fight in the distance. They laughed as they ducked and dodged the in coming fire from the other team.
In the corner of his vision there was some movement, he narrowed his eyes looking for what may have caught his eye. There almost completely camouflaged against the snow with it’s white fur was a familiar arctic fox. It sat there staring at him intently .
He tapped Pinkie on the shoulder, “Pinkie.” When she turned and looked at him questionably. He pointed towards the fox but it was no longer there. Casting his gaze about he tried to spot it one more. For the briefest of moments he saw a white tail disappear behind one of the buildings.
“We’ll have time to go to the park another day, first I want you to meet some ponies.” Stated Pinkie guessing at what Snow wanted.
She began to walk again but in the wrong direction. He tapped her on the shoulder. “Pinkie, go.” He pointed once more in the direction of the park. He had questions and that fox held the answers but he needed Pinkie’s help if he was to pursue it.
Pinkie shook her head, “No.” She stated firmly as she continued to walk in the opposite direction. “We will go to the park another time.” He crossed his fore-legs in frustration.
Ten minutes of walking later the street opened up. Snow’s frustration had mostly disappeared and he actively looked around as they entered a large public square. Stalls were scattered throughout with vendors hawking their wares. Pinkie happily trotted through the crowd smiling and waving at many a passersby who reciprocated her actions with slightly confused looks when they noticed Snow on her back.
Half way across the square Pinkie looked over her shoulder, “Snow,” she started drawing his attention away from the busy happenings of the town. She pointed, to a building at the far end of the square. It was decorated like the largest gingerbread house he had ever seen. Just looking at it made him hungry. “That’s our home. I know you’ll love it, Mr. and Mrs. Cake are so nice and I’m sure you’ll have a bunch of fun with the twins!” She cheerfully stated while making her way towards door with a bounce in her step.
A bell above the door signalled their arrival as they entered the building. Snow studied the interior which seemed to be a restaurant of some kind. Ponies sat at many of the tables that lined the walls, talking amongst themselves as they enjoyed fresh pastries.
The new arrivals drew the gaze of many within the establishment including large light blue mare who stood behind a counter giving them a warm smile. The attention made him anxious, using Pinkie’s puffy mane he tried in vain to hide himself from view.
“Welcome back Pinkie.” Said the blue mare.
A door behind the counter burst open and lanky yellow stallion stuck his head through. “Did I hear you say Pinkie is back?” His eyes drifted to Pinkie failing to notice Snow on her back, “Oh thank Celestia! We’re swamped and I could really use you in the kitchen.”
“Now Honey,” The blue mare spoke up using a stern voice, “She just brought Soft Snow home. Let her have the day off to get him settled.”
“That’s today!?” The stallion did a double take on Pinkie spotting a white ball of fur sprawled out on her back.
“Yup.” Pinkie joyfully stated. She looked over her shoulder at Snow and grabbed him by the scruff and placed him on the ground in front of her. “Mr., Mrs. Cake, I would like you to meet Soft Snow.”
Mr. Cake lowered himself to Snow’s level. Unsure, Snow scooted backwards planting himself firmly between Pinkie’s legs. “Hello Snow,” started Mr. Cake. Snow tentatively peered out at him, “I'm Carrot Cake.” Mr. Cake motioned to himself.
The large mare came up beside Mr. Cake and pointed to herself. “And I'm Cupcake. We are going to be living together.”
Snow gave them an unsure look, he didn’t understand most of what was said, but it he was certain that these two ponies were introducing themselves. Gaining some confidence he looked up, “Hello.” He timidly greeted back slurring the word slightly.
The bell above the door rang once more and Mrs. Cake looked behind Pinkie and let out a sigh as three ponies walk in. “Pinkie I would love to spend some more time getting to know Snow more, but we really need to get back to work. Why don’t you show him the rest of his new home.”
Pinkie nodded, “Okie dokie.”
Pinkie put Snow on her back and made her way across seating area towards a set of stairs. At the top of the stairs she stopped,“Hmm, what to show first” She tapped her chin with her hoof. “Ah, I know.” They approached the door just a little ways down the hall on the left. Voices could be heard coming from the other side. “This is Pound and Pumpkin's room.” She knocked on the door. The voices quickly quieted to a whisper and the sound of small hooves could be heard rushing towards the door.
The door opened to reveal two small foals. “Aunt Pinkie!” They exclaimed together and rushed forward wrapping themselves around her forelegs. Snow examined them from his perch, one was a tan pegasus colt with a brown mane and tail. The other was a unicorn filly with blond fur and a pumpkin coloured mane with a blue bow in it. Both were just a bit smaller smaller than him.
“Aunty, Aunty, do you want to play with us?” asked Pound excitedly a hopeful grin on his face.
Pinkie shook her head. “Not right now.” The two foals let disappointed awws “But I do want you to meet someone.” She quickly cut in before they could protest further. Reaching behind her she grabbed Snow and set him on the ground in front of the twins.
Pumpkin and Pound looked at each other curious expressions on their faces then made their way towards Snow. “Who's this?” Pound asked while they walked around Snow in a tight circle in opposite directions like wolves circling their prey, making him nervous.
“I would like you meet Soft Snow. Snow,” At the mention of his name he looked up at Pinkie. “I would like you to meet Pound Cake, and Pumpkin Cake.” Pinkie motioned to each foal as she said their name. “Snow will be living with us for a while.”
“So, is he our new older brother?” Pound asked
“How can he be our older brother if Mom and Dad didn’t have kids before us?” Cut in Pumpkin quickly trying to prove her brother wrong.
“I bet they hid him from us.”
“Why would they do that?”
“To surprise us when we got older of course.” Pumpkin rolled her eyes at her brothers hypothesis.
Pinkie’s voice interrupted the twin’s arguing, “No, he is not your brother. He’s...” She tapped her chin trying to think of the best way to explain. “He’s more like your cousin, since I am the one responsible for him.”
Pound and Pumpkin looked at each other then turned to Snow with wide smiles plastered on their faces, “Yay, cousin Snow!” Exclaimed the twins as they rushed Snow piling on top of him in a rough attempt at a hug. Snow’s head popped out from under the pile and he gave Pinkie a pleading look.
Pinkie tried her best to hide her amusement at Snow’s predicament but soon relented came to his rescue and pulled Pound and Pumpkin off of him. Snow promptly crawled under her hooves for protection from the twins, his back legs dragging uselessly behind him. Pound and Pumpkin stopped their cheering and gave Snow a confused look.
“Aunty, is something wrong with Snow? ” Asked Pumpkin concerned.
“Yah, why is he crawling like that?” Pound followed up.
Pinkie sat on haunches with Snow firmly between her forehooves. Looking down she studied him as she tried to think of the best way to explain Snow’s challenges. “I don’t know, no one does.”
Pinkie let out a sigh, “I’m sure he would, but he doesn’t speak equestrian”
“How can he be be a pony and not speak equestrian?” Pumpkin asked.
“If he’s not a pony... Then what is he?” Pound asked building on his sister's line of thought. The twins studied Snow then looked at each other in thought. Their eyes widened and they took up aggressive stances in front of Pinkie. “Aunty get away from Snow!” exclaimed Pound.
Pinkie gave the twins a confused look.
“He must be a changeling” Pumpkin followed up.
Pinkie rolled her eyes and let out a sigh, Snow just stared at the display slightly frightened that they were going to attack him. “Snow is not a changeling” she stated firmly.
“Are you sure?”
Pinkie nodded, “Snow just has some challenges that he will need our help facing. Can I count on you to help him?”
The twins relaxed their stance and gave Pinkie a quick nod. “Uh huh”
“Perfect. Now who wants to help show Snow the house?”
“I do!” The twins exclaimed together their faces brightening once more.
“We’ll be the best house guides ever!” exclaimed Pound.
“Let’s go.” said Pumpkin rushing out the room followed promptly by Pound. After a couple of seconds Pumpkin stuck her head back through the door, “Well? you coming?” She impatiently asked. Grabbing Snow, Pinkie lifted him onto her back and followed Pumpkin out of the room.
After supper Pinkie brought Snow into the living room and sat him on the floor and began to rummage through her mane. “Saxophone, nope. Spatula. Bolder…. Bolder!” She pulled out a rock and narrowed her eyes at it, “What are you doing here?”
Snow tilted his head as Pinkie nodded as if listening to the rock. “Maud’s going to a geology conference in Canterlot and is going to be stopping by on her way there!” She exclaimed causing him to flinch in surprise. “Oh this is going to be perfect. Tell Maud I can’t wait to see her.” She opened a window and tossed the rock out.
Turning her attention back to the room scanning it. “Where did I put that list.” She tapped her chin. “Ah ha, I know.” She made her way behind the couch and pulled out a piece of paper.
“Here it is, Dr Bones’ exercise list.”
Pinkie guided Snow through his prescribed exercises. It frustrated Snow to no end, he could feel his rear legs making the motions but he still couldn’t get them to move on his own. He glared at the offending limbs concentrating, willing them to move as Pinkie guided one through a slow rotation. His leg twitched and it was not from Pinkie's movements. Stunned he looked at Pinkie who had stopped and sported an encouraging smile. Concentrating he willed his leg to move one more. It was subtle but his leg gave a small twitch.
“You did It!” Pinkie exclaimed bringing him in for a hug. After a moment She placed him back on the ground and started to go through the remaining exercises. Snow paid rapt attention to what she was doing. He was just beginning to gain some control but still had lots of work to do if he was going to obtain mastery over his new limbs.
When they finished half an hour later Pound approached them pushing a large box with his head. It was filled with wooden blocks of all shapes and sizes. Turning around he reared up and gave the box a light buck emptying its contents onto the floor.
“Aunty, do you think Snow would like to play with my blocks with me?”
Pinkie looked at Snow who already had decided to grab a couple of blocks which had landed in front of him and had began to stack them. “He’s already one step ahead of you.” Said Pinkie with a smirk as he pointed to Snow.
With a wide smile Pound grabbed some blocks of his own and placed them around the base of Snow’s fledgling tower. Soon their tower half as large as Snow. Pound was doing most of the building, his hooves easily grabbed the blocks allowing him to safely place blocks on the upper portions without knocking their creation over.
Pinkie stood up, “Pound, I am going to go see if your mom and dad need any help. Come find me if Snow needs anything.”
Pound nodded, “OK Aunty.” he responded as Pinkie made her way out of the room. Looking back at the tower he tapped his chin in thought. “Next we need a rectangle.”
Snow looked around at the blocks around him, spotting the block he thought he needed he pushed it over to Pound. “No that one, That’s a square” he stated as he pointed to the block at his feet. Looking over Snow’s pile Pound pointed to a block off to his left, “That one is a rectangle.”
Locating the block Snow tapped it questionably and asked, “Rectangle?”
“Yep.”
Snow smiled and pushed the block over to Pound. With the block in hoof he stood up on his hind legs, his small wings flared to stabilize himself as he carefully placed the block on top of the tower. It wavered slightly swaying side to side. Pound and Snow to took in sharp breath. Soon though it came to rest and they let out a collective sigh of relief.
“This is the biggest tower ever!” Exclaimed Pound admiring their work. Snow did not understand what was said but smiled back with a shared sense of accomplishment.
Snow’s smile faltered slightly and he tilted his head as he saw Pumpkin slowly sneaking up behind Pound. She noticed him giving her a questioning look and brought a hoof up to her mouth quietly mouthing ‘shh’. He gave the briefest of nods which went unnoticed by Pound. She crept closer with wide mischievous smile on her face. “What you up to!” She exclaimed causing Pound to jump and tumble forward into the tower.
Pumpkin rolled on the ground laughing as Pound extracted himself from the remains of their creation. He reeled around and glared at his sister. “That was not funny!”
“Yes it was, even Snow is laughing.” He looked at Snow who was trying his best to hide his smirk.
“It wasn’t that funny.” Pound repeated in a quieter voice turning around he crossed his hooves.
Seeing the sad posture of her brother she came up beside him and wrapped him in a hug. “I’m sorry, You looked like you were having fun, I just kind of wanted to join in.” She released her embrace and pawed the floor in front of her. “Can I play with you guys?”
“Fine,” He relented but pointed a accusatory hoof in her direction, “but don’t knock over the tower this time.” She nodded and took a seat next to Pound and began to gather some blocks.
Once more a new tower began to form this time larger than before. Pinkie, Mrs. and Mr. Cake walked into the room and approach them. “Looks like someponies are having fun.” said Pinkie with a smile on her face.
“Yah! We made the biggest, big skyscraper ever!” exclaimed Pound exaggerating with his hooves how large the tower was.
“Wow thats amazing. Did Snow help you guys out?”
“Uh huh, at first he was helping us build but then it became to high for him to reach so he became our block gat…” Pumpkin fumbled with her words, “gather…. Getter. Block getter”
“How does he know which blocks to grab if he doesn’t speak equestrian?” Inquired Mr. Cake
“We taught him.” Stated Pound proudly tapping his chest with his hoof.
“That’s very kind of you and I’m glad you are having fun, but it’s time to get ready for bed” said Mrs. Cake.
“Awwwww” complained the twins in unison.
“But we were going to build another tower to make a town.” Pouted Pound.
“No buts” Stated Mr. Cake firmly, “You can play with Snow again tomorrow. Tell you what if your quick and get ready for bed fast I will let you pick out a bedtime story.”
The twins perked up, smiles returning to their faces. “I know just the book!” exclaimed Pumpkin as she rushed down the hall towards the washroom.
“Wait for me!” whined Pound scampering off behind her.
“Works every time.” Said Mr. Cake with a knowing smile on his face then began to follow after them leaving Pinkie with Snow alone.
Pinkie looked down at Snow, “What do you think? time for bed?” Snow just tilted his head. “I’ll take that as a yes.” She walked over to Snow and grabbed him by the scruff and began to walk town the hall and up the stairs to her room with him hanging from her mouth.
There was a cot brought into her room for Snow but instead she made her way towards her own bed and placed him on it covering him with the comforter. She then jumped up and settled herself next to him.
Reaching under her pillow she pulled out picture book like she had the previous nights when he was in the hospital. “Want to read a book?” She asked. Snow nodded having been asked that before. He liked books especially ones with lots of pictures. He could point to something and ask what it was called.
Snow snuggled closer to Pinkies side, she smiled then began to read.
