Chapter 1
Cold War
by Twippledash
It was a relatively warm winter morning, Celestia's sun shining brightly with just a few white clouds on the sky breaking the monotonous blue color. Twilight Sparkle had just finished her morning routines and was about to look for some good book from the library's numerous shelves to read and relax. It was a Sunday morning after all, so there was no work to be done and she didn't even expect any visitors today. She levitated a book off one shelf and laid down on a blanket set next to the lit fireplace, opened the book and started to read...
And of course somepony chose that exact moment to start insistently knocking on the door.
Twilight groaned slightly. "Spike! Could you get the door, please?"
"Sure thing, Twi!" Spike ceased dusting the bookshelves and made his way to answer the door. As he grabbed the handle to open the door, whoever there was was still knocking on the door non-stop.
As soon as the door was opened, a hyper-active pink pony immediately bounced inside, knocking Spike off his feet on the way, flinging him back a few feet.
"Hi Spike! Hi Twilight!"
"Oh, hi Pinkie Pie," Twilight replied as she took her eyes off the book she was reading to look at the unexpected visitor. "What brings you here today?"
Pinkie continued bouncing around. "I just woke up this morning and thought that we, as in us and our other friends, should have some fun today together!"
"Well, I have nothing important to do today, so I guess that would be all right. What you had in mind?"
"Snowball fight!" Pinkie exclaimed enthusiastically, jumping a few feet into air almost colliding with the ceiling. "I already asked Dashie and Rarity, and even though Dashie was all grumpy when I woke her up she got a lot brighter when I told her why I interrupted her nap and she said she is always up for some good old play-fighting with her friends. Rarity was harder to convince, using some of her fancy words I don't know the meaning of trying to get away but I still got her to promise to come too!" Pinkie stopped for a moment to catch breath, and Twilight took that opportunity to get her word in.
"Snowball fight? Well... I've never been in any snowball fights before, but—"
"Uh-huh!" Pinkie continued, interrupting what Twilight was saying. "I haven't yet asked Applejack and Fluttershy, but I'm sure Applejack will come as soon as she hears Rainbow is coming too, she would never turn down a chance to beat her, Fluttershy will surely be reluctant at first but I just know that I can get her to come too with some Pinkie Persuasion!"
"I guess I can come... How about you, Spike?" Twilight asked the still slightly dazed dragon, who was now sitting back where Pinkie had accidentally flung him.
Spike rubbed his head as he got back on his feet. "Ugh... I don't know Twilight. I'd just like to take the day off and relax, I've been working quite hard last few days."
"I'm not forcing you to come, but it would be fun. All our best friends are there," Twilight replied ignoring Pinkie Pie, who had started to bounce up and down in front of the bookshelves, and added as an afterthought, "Rarity will be there too."
Spike stopped for a moment to think, but came to his conclusion. "Nah. You go Twilight. I'll just keep the fire up here for you to warm up once you get back."
Pinkie bounced back to them. "See you around noon at the field on the east side of Ponyville Twi! Spike can come too if he changes his mind! Bye!"
"See you later!" Twilight said as Pinkie bounced out the library as energetically as ever, shutting the door in her wake.
"That pony sure is always full of energy," Spike deadpanned.
"I know, Spike. I know..."
Twilight passed a few hours reading the book she had started before Pinkie came to interrupt, until she finally got up and out when it was closing noon, leaving Spike in charge of the house. The air outdoors was relatively warm for a winter day. In other words, it was a perfect day for a snowball fight as many fillies and colts around had noticed. There were snowballs flinging back and forth on parks and some smaller less used streets as some fillies and colts played together, and occasionally there were some older mares or stallions joining them and having fun.
Twilight was passing a snowy tree while trotting trough Ponyville central park, and before she knew, she was suddenly buried in snow. Popping her head out of the snow pile, she heard laughter from up the tree. As she looked up, she saw a rainbow maned cyan pegasus laughing on a (now snowless) tree branch.
"Hah! Got you again Twilight!" Rainbow Dash laughed as she flew down next to Twilight. "You coming to the snowball fight, too?"
"Yes, Rainbow," Twilight grunted as she dug herself out of the snow and magicked a sizable chunk of snow at Rainbow Dash, who dodged easily, having been expecting a retaliation. Twilight made a mental note to have her revenge in the upcoming fight. "Pinkie already told me that you were coming, too."
"Well, yeah!" Rainbow exclaimed and joined Twilight as she continued trotting towards the battlefield. "I'd never turn down an offer to show my friends how awesome I am! Besides," she paused for a moment, "it's already been too long since I've had a good competition with Applejack."
They continued their way, having an idle chatter together. As they arrived to the edge of the field, they looked around, seeing nopony... until two snowballs flew fast towards them, hitting them both squarely on the back of their heads. This was followed by an unmistakable giggle, belonging to a certain pink earth pony.
"Got you!" Pinkie giggled as she bounced from behind a tree several feet behind the pegasus and unicorn. She easily jumped over two snowballs the two ponies she had assaulted had flung at her as a retaliation. "Others haven't arrived yet, but I'm sure they will come soon."
And sure enough, as she finished that sentence, a stetson-wearing pony was seen coming from the general direction of the Sweet Apple Acres, as well as a butter-colored pegasus with an alabaster unicorn from Ponyville's direction.
"Howdy y'all!" Applejack called with her trademark southern accent. "Nice to meet you around."
"Nice to meet you too Applejack," Twilight replied. "Haven't seen you for a few days."
"Ah prefer to stay mostly indoors on cold winter days, but I'm always up to havin' some fun with my friends," Applejack said, turning to Rainbow Dash. "Especially when I have a chance to buck your head out of the clouds once in a while."
"Ha! That's not gonna happen, Applesmack," Rainbow snapped.
"All right, enough arguing for now," Twilight interrupted and turned to Fluttershy and Rarity who had just arrived beside them. "I'm actually quite surprised to see you two here. I didn't know you were into this kind of thing."
"Well, darling," Rarity said, "usually I wouldn't attend into this kind of uncouth activities, but I guess Pinkie is just too persuasive sometimes. Don't you agree, Fluttershy?"
"Um..." Fluttershy answered in her usual shy manner, trying to hide behind her mane once again. "Yes, I guess."
"Enough chit-chat! I'm getting bored here," Rainbow Dash interrupted. "Let's get started already!"
"Yeah! I already built two snow walls up there to act as team bases." Pinkie jumped in, pointing for two mounds of snow a small distance further in the field with her hoof. "We should make two teams to fight against each other!"
"I'm not in the same team with her," Rainbow said without second thought, pointing Applejack with her hoof.
"I agree, for once," the apple farmer said.
"You two can be team leaders," Twilight suggested. "And then you can choose your own teams."
"Sounds good to me," Applejack agreed. "You go first RD."
"Alright. Pinkie, you come join the Team Awesome!"
"Woohoo!" Pinkie bounced at her side.
"Somehow that didn't surprise me at all," Applejack said. "Hmm... I pick Twilight."
"So, Fluttershy and Rarity left..." Rainbow thought aloud as Twilight trotted to Applejack's team. "I like Fluttershy more, but some magical assistance would be quite helpful, so I think I'll choose Rarity." As Rarity started to come to her team, Rainbow looked at Fluttershy and added slightly apologetically, "I hope you don't mind Fluttershy."
"It's all right... whatever suits you," Fluttershy said meekly, as she joined Applejack's team.
Teams selected, they all gathered together in between the two bases Pinkie had built earlier. The bases were identical; a snow wall high enough so that a pony could easily hide behind it, shaped into a half-circle facing the other base about sixty feet away. Bases were also wide enough to fit a few ponies each, as well as a small stash of snowballs.
"Maybe we should set some rules before we get started?" Twilight suggested as soon as the six ponies arrived the battlefield.
"Rules?" Rainbow snorted, floating above the others. "Twilight, this is a snowball fight. We're here just to have fun, we don't need any boring rules. I say we just split into our teams and get started." With that she flew off to one of the bases. "Are you coming or not? Or are we just gonna waste our time standing around chatting?"
"Dashie's right!" Pinkie chimed, bouncing towards Rainbow's base. "We should start already and have fun!"
"Okay then," Twilight replied. "Come on Applejack, Fluttershy. We better get on our side before they take the initiative and start showering snowballs on us when we stand here without any cover."
The three ponies trotted to the other direction as Rarity joined Rainbow and Pinkie. They had barely arrived their base, as they already heard Pinkie shouting 'look out!' and saw her throwing several snowballs at them in rapid fire. They all managed to duck for cover behind the snow wall of their base, the snowballs flying over their heads.
"Eep!" the shy pegasus squeaked and dug deeper into their cover as another barrage of snowballs flung at their direction, this time not from only Pinkie, but also from her two allies.
"Come on sugar cube," Applejack soothed. "just get up and give 'em what they deserve!" And with that she bucked several snowballs at their opponents, all barely missing their targets, except one which managed to hit Rainbow Dash on her back as she was getting back up to assault them. "Take that, rainbow-girl!"
Instead of returning Applejack's taunt, Rainbow decided for a more straight approach. She grabbed a few snowballs with her as she flew up at high speed, about to make an aerial attack on her opponents. Meanwhile, Pinkie and Rarity were ready to give her covering fire on ground level if any of their opponents showed their heads.
Just as Rainbow started shooting the snowballs she was carrying, Twilight was already ready with an appropriate defensive spell. She conjured up a force field, which not only stopped Rainbow's attack, but also bounced the snowballs back to the direction where they came from.
"Wha—?" Rainbow yelped in surprise as her own snowballs started bouncing back at her, but still dodging expertly. "Hey, that's not fair! That's against the rules!"
"What rules?" Twilight kept up her shield. "I recall you yourself saying that there is no need for any rules. How can this be against any rules, if there is none in the first place?"
"Oh, nuts," the cyan pegasus lamented to herself and quickly fled back to her allies, as she was already out of ammo.
"Fluttershy?" Twilight asked the yellow bundle next to her and dispelled her shield as Rainbow's assault was already over. "There is no need to be afraid, get up and join me and Applejack in fighting. It's nothing serious and they won't hold ill feelings, it's all just for fun."
"But..." Fluttershy covered still. "I... I don't want to hurt anypony..."
"You're not goin' to hurt them sugar cube," Applejack said. "Sure they'll be riled up a bit if ya hit them, but it's nothin' to worry about." To emphasize her point, she flung another snowball at Pinkie, who had popped her head into plain sight.
"Okay..." The timid pegasus carefully raised her head, peeking over the wall, just to quickly pull it back down with an 'eep!' as Rainbow was ready with another snowball in her hoof, flinging it at her direction.
"Are you just gonna let 'em do that without doin' anything about it? Did ya already forget all of the assertiveness lessons that big, grumpy minotaur gave?"
"Don't be shy, look 'em in the eye," that was Iron Will's first lesson, Fluttershy remembered. Even if I didn't like the outcome of his coaching, maybe I could still use some of his lessons and be a little more assertive. "You're right... I can do it."
"That's better!" the lavender unicorn said. "Now keep your defenses up. Rainbow seems to be preparing for another aerial assault."
Suddenly, without any warning, a snowball hit the head of the unicorn from behind. Judging by the 'oomph' and a squeak next to her, her teammates had suffered the same fate. Simultaneously Rainbow Dash started approaching carrying another load of snowballs with her.
"What the hay?" Applejack swore as she whipped her head around, seeing Pinkie standing there, giggling uncontrollably. "How did Pinkie get there? Last time I saw her a few second ago, she was still in their base with RD and Rarity!"
"I've already learned not to question Pinkie Pie," Twilight deadpanned, still keeping her focus on the quickly approaching rainbow pegasus. "You two try to do something with her, I'll handle Rainbow." Not wanting to use same cheap shield-trick again, she levitated a few dozen snowballs, and then hurled all of them at the pegasus in quick succession, causing the rainbow pegasus to drop her load of snowballs in order to dodge the incoming barrage. But no matter how good and fast flier she was, there were simply too many to dodge. She was hit by a few of them, and had to make an emergency landing back towards her home base. Had to use half of our snowball reserves, but at least I got my revenge for burying me in snow earlier, so definitely worth it. Twilight smirked to herself.
While Twilight was dealing with Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Fluttershy were facing other direction towards the giggling pink party pony. Apparently the hit in her head had knocked some assertiveness into the yellow normally-timid pegasus, as her answer to Pinkie's sudden assault was to grab some of their pre-made snowballs and hurl them at the still giggling pink pony, who was now rolling on the snow. Even Applejack was surprised by her sudden change in demeanor, and could just stay there with a blank face.
"Whoa nelly!" the apple farmer exclaimed. She just watched as each of the snowballs Fluttershy threw hit the target, not that Pinkie was hard to hit as she just laid on the snow giggling.
"You're. Going. Down!" Fluttershy punctuated each word by throwing another snowball at the pink pony. Her voice level was only around the speaking voice of any other pony, but compared to the shy pegasus' normal voice, it was almost like she was shouting. She soon calmed down though, returning to her normal, shy and caring self, looking at the pink pony worriedly. "Are you okay? I didn't hurt you, did I?" she asked her pink opponent, who had just been in the receiving end of her burst.
"Hehehehe... Of course I'm okay!" the giggling filly managed to say between her laughing fits. "I'm not made of sugar, silly! Or am I? AJ always calls us 'sugar cubes', so maybe we really are sugar!" She tentatively licked her own hoof, smacking her lips a bit, tasting. "Hmm... nah. It would have been too good to be true. Anyway, gotta go!" With that she zipped past them, back to her own base where Rainbow and Rarity were already waiting.
Applejack watched her speeding away. "I'll never understand that pony." She got two agreeing murmurs for an answer.
Back in the other end of their battlefield, Rainbow Dash was recovering from her near-crash landing, wheezing a little as Pinkie arrived from her surprise attack. Rarity kept their enemies alert by occasionally flinging a snowball at their direction with her magic.
"That didn't go as well as expected, now did it, Rainbow darling?"
"I totally meant to do that!" Rarity raised her eyebrow at Rainbow. "Well... all right. It didn't go as I planned." She slumped on the snow floor of their fort. "But at least I tried, unlike somepony around here!"
"I am not as barbaric as you two," the alabaster fashionista huffed. "I wouldn't have even came here in the first place if a certain pink pony didn't somehow get me to Pinkie Promise to come." She gave Pinkie a glare. "And I am determined to get out here without getting hit a single time if I can do anything about it."
"Yeah, yeah. Like that's gonna happen." Rainbow swung her hoof once. I'm personally going to make sure she doesn't get away that easily if needed... "Anyway, we should get ready, for they're likely already planning a counterattack."
"Well, darling, I know I can't conjure up protective shields, nor am I adept enough with levitation to make similar rain of snowballs like Twilight did," Rarity lamented, then cheering up a notch and grinned, "but what I miss in power, I am sure to make up with accuracy and precision. I can almost certainly stop any of them if they dare to come close enough."
"AJ is coming and Twilight's horn is glowing!" Pinkie, who had been uncharacteristically silent for the last few minutes, shouted.
And so it was; Applejack was charging towards them, as Twilight's horn started to glow even brighter. Fluttershy was nowhere to be seen. Likely hiding in a safe place behind their base's wall, the poor darling, Rarity thought. She prepared a snowball, levitating it next to herself and taking aim for the incoming Applejack.
Twilight disappeared in a flash. Then immediately reappeared fifteen feet to the side of their base, hovering several snowballs around her.
Pinkie, who had been looking at their back expecting Twilight to repeat what she had done to her team just moments ago, jumped in surprise as the scholastic unicorn appeared at her side instead. She whipped around, just it time to receive one of Twilight's snowballs straight on her muzzle.
Before Twilight could do anything else, she was already bombarded by a torrent of snowballs falling from the sky. Rainbow was now hovering several feet above her empty-hoofed, as she had just dropped a whole load of snowballs on the unsuspecting unicorn.
"Got you this time!" the rainbow pegasus taunted, flying back to ground to grab some more snowballs to throw or drop.
Rarity had just thrown the snowball she had prepared at Applejack, hitting her with perfect precision. She was picking up another snowball, carelessly looking away for a moment.
That moment was enough for Applejack, who only flinched slightly as Rarity's hit her, and she got time to quickly toss up a snowball, turn around and buck it straight into it's intended target: side of Rarity's head.
Rarity fumed at Applejack, her sudden burst of anger boosting her magical powers momentarily. "Oh! It. Is. On!" World around her seemed to slow down as she picked a snowball after snowball and hurled them all over Applejack's body, who in turn tried to deflect or dodge them all, in vain. "This is for ruining my mane, you ruffian!"
All other ponies around, including Fluttershy who peeked from behind the snow wall on the other side of the battlefield, just looked at the display jaws open, all the other fighting forgotten for the moment. Rarity was shooting snowballs at Applejack in perfect accuracy at a rate of several balls every second, and Applejack had decided it was a good time to have a strategic retreat.
"Okay, calm down Rarity!" Twilight interrupted once she managed to recollect her thoughts. "I think Applejack's got enough."
After flinging one last snowball at her nemesis, the white unicorn finally got to catch her breath, still glaring daggers at the orange earth pony. "She deserved that for ruining my mane."
"I'm not arguing with that," the lavender unicorn replied, glaring at the pegasus who had buried her in snow second time today just a moment ago, thinking about what she could do to pay her for it. "But I think we should stop and leave already. I for myself am getting quite cold here, despite all the action we had."
"I didn't really want to come here in the first place, and now I have to redo my mane." Rarity flicked her slightly ruffled mane for emphasis. "So I definitely agree."
"Yeah, I guess we've had enough. I'm getting a little tired anyway." The rainbow maned pegasus flew at them.
"Whew..." Applejack wheezed as she trotted back with Fluttershy and faced Rarity. "I didn't know you had that in you, sugar cube."
"Even a refined lady like myself does have their ways to protect their dignity."
"You sure as hay showed me not to upset a lady, then."
"Please don't get on each other's throats once again," Twilight said, shuddering at the memory of how their first sleepover had been until the end. "Now what you say if we call it quits and get back to Ponyville to warm up?"
"Sure, I've got nothin' against that."
"I'd like it... if that's okay."
"Okie-dokie!" Pinkie bounced in from Celestia knows where. "It was fun having fun with you guys! We should do this again soon! Ooh, and I can throw a party for our first snowball fight together! We really should—"
"We get it Pinkie," Twilight interrupted, causing the pink pony stop mid-bounce, leaving her hovering mid-air for a moment defying gravity. "Now let's just get going before Ponyville has six new pony-shaped ice sculptures."
This was followed by slight chuckles. "Yeah, even if it would make us cooler, it would still be totally not-awesome." The rainbow-maned pegasus' comment earned a little more chortles.
Twilight ignored Rainbow's pun and continued, "You are all welcome to the library to warm up. Spike said he's got the fireplace ready for when we return. And I'm sure he can prepare some hot beverages for us, too."
The others agreed, and so they started to trot towards Ponyville library, having a lighthearted chatter on the way...
...at least until Twilight was once again buried in snow dropped off a tree by the prankster pegasus.
"Oh, darling," Rarity chimed to Twilight chuckling a little as Rainbow laughed uncontrollably up on a tree branch. "Don't you ever learn not to walk under snowy trees when that pegasus is around?"
"I guess not..." the lavender unicorn grunted as she dug herself out of the snow pile.
With that, they continued their way to the library continuing their idle chatter, laughing occasionally for jokes and funny stories they told to each other.