The CMC get into trouble when their snowman (yes: man, not snow-pony) is hit by a wayward spell
Winter in Ponyville and the Cutie Mark Crusaders are taking part in a snowpony building competition. With points for originality the three fillies go all out and make something really weird. With a few finishing touches from Scootaloo and a little magic from Sweetie Belle what could go wrong?
Rainbow Dash shivered and wrapped her scarf tighter around her neck. She and Cloud Kicker worked together to push a heavy black cloud into place. The weather team were all feeling the cold today. Dash would have bet her monthly pay that all of them were thinking of mugs of freshly made hot chocolate from Sugar Cube Corner.
“We done?” Cloud Kicker shivered and rubbed her hooves together in a vain attempt to warm up.
“Almost,” Dash responded. Her breath clouded around her like smoke. It really was too cold to be flying at such altitudes, even for pegasi. “We just need a little Nimbostratus over the town hall, then we can kick this puppy into action and go home.”
The whole of Ponyville was covered by a layer of thick, black and heavy clouds. Normally a source for worry, a sign that a heavy storm was coming. Yet today the clouds were a source for joy, not worry. Today was Ponyville’s annual snowpony building contest, while Ponyville already had a blanket of winter snow a foot deep they would always need more. Competition was always friendly yet intense; a contradiction in terms but it was true. Everypony was always trying to outdo everypony else, so while they could admire the work of others they would always be working hard on their own projects trying to make the best snow-sculpture they could, the more unique the better.
There were three contests in all, one for fillies and colts, one for stallions and mares and one for groups of friends of families to work together on.
Dash and Cloud Kicker pushed the delicate Nimbostratus into place over the tall tower of Ponyville Town Hall, the final piece in the cloud over needed for today’s snowfall. “All right!” Dash pumped the air triumphantly. “OKAY EVERYPONY! WE’RE DONE!” she yelled out to the sky and hoped the rest of the weather team heard her. “Cloud Kicker, you wanna do the honours?”
CK grinned, “Sure boss.” she lined herself up with the clouds and gave them a powerful kick. A rumble like thunder ran through the skies around them. Then snowflakes, huge and fat as down feathers , started to fall and drift toward the ground.
Rainbow grinned. The smile was short-lived as she felt a few snowflakes land on the back of her neck, the freezing cold and wet ran right down her spine. “Hot chocolate, on me?” she asked Cloud Kicker.
...***...
Mayor Mare of Ponyville, dressed in furry boots, a thick woollen scarf, and a winter cloak, looked almost like the abominable snowpony as she took to the stage. The snow was still falling in its snow and gentle fashion.
The main square of Ponyville had been cordoned off into three huge sections for the competition. The whole town had been lavishly decorated with many exotic paper lanterns hanging from every surface, since the competition usually went on into the night lights were a necessary thing. Lights hung from tree branches, from houses, some had even peen put into windows, and many of the lights had been used to decorated the multitude of stalls that ran the circumference of the competition area. Winter warmers were the stock, from the stall owned by Sugar Cube Corner, selling hot chocolate, to Applejack’s stall, selling good hot cider and baked apples. Rarity even had a stall set up to sell a scarf or coat to anypony who needed it.
The mayor cleared her throat to get the attention of everypony. “Mares and stallions, fillies and colts,” she called out to the growing crowd. “Welcome to the annual snowpony building contest. Now, I know you all know the rules, but we shall be reminded of them all the same. The contest for school age ponies and the contest for adults will be given one hour to build their snow-sculptures. After the judging the contest area for friends and family teams will be opened, you will be given a further hour to do build the best snow-sculpture you can.
“Judging is point based, points will be granted for style and creativity; the more interesting an object you build, the better. The judges will be watching closely, so no cheating,” she laughed lightly, as though such an action was beyond the citizens of Ponyville. “pegasus ponies are reminded to only use the snow from the ground, so no collecting more from the clouds. And we remind unicorns that you may use magic to lift and move snow, but no transfiguring; all sculptures must be hoof-made; The earth pony way.
“So, without further ado, let the Ponyvillle Snowpony Contest, begin. You have one hour!” she stepped over to a large hourglass sitting on the edge of the stage. With barely a tap of her hoof the large device flipped over. The bright golden sand started to flow down into the empty bulb.
...***...
Dressed in their thickest winter scarves, boots and their bright red crusader capes, Scootaloo, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, sat in the crusader clubhouse, huddled around a lamp which provided heat as well as light.
Apple Bloom drew her cape tighter around her body. “Kay, guys, we gotta think of sumthin good if we’re gonna win the contest.”
Sweetie Belle brushed her hoof against the floor and looked uneasy. “Why couldn’t we just work on our own snowponies in the fillies and colts contest? Rarity wasn’t happy when I told her I’d be working with you guys in the friends and family contest instead of with her mom and dad.”
Apple Bloom nodded. “I know, Applejack weren’t too happy when I told her I di’n’t wanna make a snowpony with her and Big Mac. It’s a family tradition.”
Scootaloo nodded in agreement. “My moms were disappointed but I think they understand. Bonbon-mom said that We’ve been making snowponies since you were a little foal, we got years of memories and we’ll have more in the future. So it’s okay to spend some of those years with friends.” She tried to hide a blush rising on her face. “She always says sappy stuff like that.”
Sweetie Belle giggled. “It’s not sappy, it’s sweet.”
Scootaloo just rolled her eyes. There was no reasoning with Sweetie Belle and her sappy ideas.
Apple Bloom was the one to bring them back to the subject on hand. “They’ll all be proud of us when we win the Friends and Family contest,” she looked at her two friends, “but we gotta think up a great snow-sculpture t’make. A normal snowpony ain’t gonna do it. We gotta get points for somethin’ weird, somethin’ unique...but ah got nuthin’.”
Sweetie’s ears perked up. “We could make snow animals,” she suggested. “I think I could make a bunny.”
Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “Seriously? A few bunnies and teddy bears? that’s not gonna win us the contest. Remember that snow family portrait you helped Rarity make last year? A snow zoo can’t compete with that.”
Apple Bloom shivered and scooted closer to the lamp’s weak light. “That snow train Pinkie Pie an’ the Cakes made last year was pretty impressive too. Ah reckon we gotta think of sumpthin’ real good. Sumpthin’ nopony cud even think of.”
That caught her friends attention, Apple Bloom said, “Whut? C’mon, it ain’t like we got any other ideas.”
Scootaloo looked doubtful but Apple Bloom was right, they didn’t have anything else to try. “Well, what about....we try and make one of those thing Lyra-mom is always telling us stories about...” she looked thoughtful for a second – what were they called? “Hoomons? We make a snow hoomon?”
Sweetie Belle looked doubtful. “I don’t even know what one of those things looks like.”
Scootaloo waved a hoof dismissively, “I got a good idea what they look like, I heard the stories from mom hundreds of times. You just follow my instructions and we’ll be fine.”
Apple Bloom cocked an eyebrow and looked at her two friends, “Do y’all think we could? Ah ain’t never made nuthin that looks like a hoomun.”
Sweetie Belle shrank down like she was trying to hide underneath her cape. “I don’t want to embarrass myself in front of everypony,” she said shyly.
What she meant was Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, both Scootaloo and Apple Bloom knew this. The two fillies were also taking part in the Friends and Family contest and there were rumours Diamond Tiara had made her dad hire a professional sculptor-pony to help her win. The long-term bullies would no doubt get a big thrill at the Crusaders if their efforts started to fail.
Scootaloo tried to think, “well,” she tapped a hoof against her chin, “well....we got time before the competition, so let’s practise. There’s plenty of snow outside, so we could make one or two real quick. Then we can make the real one at the contest and it’ll look awesome and Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon won’t believe their eyes.”
Apple Bloom nodded her head. “Great idea, c’mon, let’s get started.”
...***...
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle pushed a huge ball of snow across the ground. “Are y’all sure?” Apple Bloom quizzed, “two legs?”
Scootaloo nodded. “Yeah, I’m sure.” she gathered her own snow ball, significantly smaller than the one Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were making. Hers was going to make the head. She glanced at her two friends. “Okay, that should be big enough, now we need to make a second ball to make the middle. Smaller than that one.” she turned her attention to her own creation. In all the stories Lyra-mom had told her she described humans as tall creatures, who walked on two legs, had two arms, round heads. They also had fingers. For some reason Lyra-mom was a little obsessed on the fingers.
A while ago she and Lyra-mom had seen a Minotaur in Ponyville, his name was Iron Will and he’d been helping Fluttershy become more confident. Lyra had been thrilled to see a creature with fingers. She’d followed Iron Will around all day until his goat friends had forced her to go away. Scootaloo still remembered his basic shape and -oddly- many of his features could be applied to the shape of a human.
While Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle gathered up the second snowball, Scootaloo used her hoof to cut a few basic features into the face of the human; a couple of deep holes made the eyes and she cut a wide hole to make the mouth.
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle brought the second snowball up to the first. Scootaloo nodded at their work, “okay, now carefully put that one on top of the first. Then all that’s left is to put the head on and put a few fine details on the body.”
Slowly and carefully the crusaders worked to put the midsection into place. Meanwhile Scootaloo retrieved a small stepladder from the clubhouse. Their brief stint as Cutie Mark Crusader Window Cleaners had been a bust –in more ways than one– but the ladder was still useful from time to time.
She climbed up to put the head on the frosty shoulders. She took great care to make sure the head wasn’t going to fall off; a lot more care than she’d ever shown anything before, but making this snow-human was important if they wanted to win the contest.
She hopped back to take a look at their creation. For the moment it looked like three balls of snow piled on top of each other, with a funny face drawn on one. It didn’t look prize-winning, not yet. “Okay, now we need a little more snow to make the arms, I’ll try to make this look more awesome.”
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle took a side each and began to pack snow into two long tubes on the snow-human from its snow shoulders down to its snow waist. Scootaloo kept her attention on the rest of the snow human. She packed more snow around its neck and waist, blending them carefully to make the three snowballs more secure but still look like three individual piles of snow built up on each other. She scraped a little snow from the midsection to make it look a little like a torso, still a plump and round one but not exactly spherical. Then she put a little of the snow in the middle of the face to make an odd pointed nose.
Finally she hopped off the ladder, the soft snow underhoof cushioned her landing with a satisfying crunch. Then she turned her attention to the lowest section, where the legs and feet would be. “Great work you guys.” Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell had done excellent work on the arms. Scoots dug and shaped the snow around the base of the snow-human, forming the shape of legs and feet.
The three fillies stood side by side and admired their handiwork. It certainly did look like the human creature Lyra described in her stories. It was six feet tall, had arms and legs, a round head with eyes a nose and mouth and —most importantly— it hadn’t fallen apart or resulted in the three crusaders ending up flank deep in snow. They had done something and it hadn’t gone wrong, a definite win!
“It looks kinda plain.” Apple Bloom admitted. “I mean, it does look good, but still kinda plain.”
Scootaloo’s eyes brightened. “I got an idea, wait here a minute.” she galloped off into the clubhouse. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle shared a confused look while they heard the noise of clattering, clunking and something made of glass breaking.
Scootaloo returned almost as suddenly as she’d left, carrying three items; two strips of black cloth and what looked like a broom handle. Apple Bloom cocked an eyebrow as Scootaloo climbed the stepladder again then began to tie the strips of cloth around the snow-human. “Why just have a plain old snow-human,” Scootaloo tied one strip of cloth to make a thick black belt. Then she tied the second cloth around the sculptures head, over its eyes. “When we can have a Ninja-Snow-human!”
The broom handle became a bo-staff tied across the snow-human’s back, the cloth around its waist was a black-belt and the cloth across the face made a convincing enough mask.
Scootaloo stepped back and admired her accessories. “100% more awesome in ten seconds flat.” she looked at her two companions, “what do ya think? Contest winning or what?”
Sweetie Belle looked dubious. “I’m gonna say, what.”
Apple Bloom however was smiling broadly. “It looks great. Let’s just hope our luck holds out an’ we can make it again at th’ contest. It’s a shame we can’t jus’ take this one with us.”
“Maybe we can.” Scootaloo’s eyes brightened up again and she looked at Sweetie Belle, her expression made the unicorn nervous. “We can’t move it, or it’ll fall apart, but maybe it can move itself?”
Apple Bloom cocked an eyebrow. “What you talkin’ ‘bout Scootaloo?”
Scootaloo looked at her like she was being ignorant on purpose. “Remember Winter Wrap Up last year? Applejack told us how Twilight used a Come To Life spell to make a plow move on its own.”
Sweetie Belle’s eyes widened in fear, “You want me to try a spell? But you know I don’t do magic very good. Things set on fire,” she looked ashamed but Scootaloo put a reassuring hoof on her shoulder.
“It’s okay Sweetie,” she smiled and nodded her head as she spoke. “it’s snow, we can’t set snow on fire.”
Sweetie began to blush. “I didn’t think I could burn juice.” she muttered.
Scootaloo just shrugged her shoulders. “If it works we’ll have an awesome snow-human-ninja to take to the contest, if it doesn’t then it’s no problem ‘cos we’ll make a new one at the contest.”
Apple Bloom nodded along encouragingly. “C’mon Sweetie Belle, you won’t know if you can do it until you try.”
Sweetie still looked unsure, “well....okay, I’ll give it a try.” She moved to stand in front of the snow-human-ninja. Behind her Scootaloo and Apple Bloom moved back a few paces. Sweetie screwed up her eyes in concentration and tried to channel magic into her horn. The tip of her horn started to glow with a pale greyish harlequin light, the same shade as her eyes. Several sparks erupted out of the end, a noise like humming filled the air as the energy built up. Sweetie clenched her teeth, her face screwed up tighter.
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo took cover behind the nearest tree.
There was a bright explosion of green light. When Apple Bloom and Scootaloo dared look from their cover they saw Sweetie Belle sitting in a huge bare of mud, the snow around her had melted and steam was rising off her body, the tip of her horn was black, as though smudged with soot. The snow-human, however, was still intact and as motionless as ever.
“You alright Sweetie?” Apple Bloom approached her friend slowly. Even from several paces away she could feel the heat lingering in the air.
Sweetie Belle wiped a little sweat off her forehead and looked at Apple Bloom with tired eyes. “Guess it didn’t work.” she said breathlessly. “sorry Scootaloo.”
Scootaloo waved a hoof dismissively, “it’s okay Sweetie Belle. It would have been cool to see the snow-human walk to the competition, but I’m glad you’re okay. We’ll just make another snow-human-ninja down at the competition.”
“Speakin’ of the contest,” Apple Bloom looked toward the distant glowing lights of Ponyville. “We better hurry if we wanna make it on time. C’mon, if we run we can get a glass of hot cider from Applejack before we start.”
“Sounds great,” Scootaloo started to run toward Ponyville, her two friends were right behind her. “I bet we could all use something to warm us up. I’m getting icicles on my wings.”
The three Cutie Mark Crusaders crested the hill and vanished from sight, leaving behind the snow-human and the bare patch of snow.
The empty eyes of the snow human started to glow with a green light from behind the mask. The snow-human’s head started to move. It looked left and right, taking in its surroundings. Its snow arms left its sides as it stretched. Its legs parted and it took a few steps around the area to gets its bearings. The bright lights of distant Ponyville caught its attention. Its icy expression turned serious as it reached behind its back and pulled its bo-staff free.
With a powerful leap from its tiny legs the snow-human-ninja flew off the ground, up into the air, it flipped and seemed to glide along on the breeze before coming to land on top of an apple tree. It leapt from tree to tree with surprisingly light steps, heading toward Ponyville.
Apple Bloom held the mug of hot cider close to her body, sipping it slowly, letting its heat spread to all her extremities. The non-alcoholic cider was the perfect thing to warm a filly on a cold winter’ night.
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were working on the snow-human, while Apple Bloom had taken a break to bring them more cider. It was also a good opportunity to look around the field and see what their competition was like.
The mail-mare, Derpy and her daughter, Dinky had pulled together with a friend of the family, Time Turner, he was a doctor or something, and made an unusual but impressing looking pegasus pony, it was up on its back legs, was wearing a strange toga-like dress, had very large wings and- for some reason- had covered its eyes with its hooves. Derpy and Dinky looked like they were having lots of fun but for some reason Turner looked more and more nervous.
Twilight Sparkle and Spike had....well...they had tried and that was the main thing. They’d put together two large blobs of snow with only vague details to give any indication that they were supposed to be a snow sculpture of Twilight and Spike. Twilight was getting more and more frustrated with making a snow-pony without magic. Spike was just having fun.
Rarity and her parents; Magnum and Pearl were working on a wonderful sculpture of a carousel. Rarity noticed Apple Bloom and managed a polite smile. It didn’t fool the filly, Apple Bloom could tell she was still upset that Sweetie Belle wasn’t taking part with her family this year. Apple Bloom kept her head down and moved on.
Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were working on an extremely bizarre, but highly imaginative piece; a large and ancient looking sea-turtle, upon its back were four small elephants who were standing in a circle, working together to balance a globe on their backs.
She froze in her hoofsteps, almost dropping her mug of cider. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were standing aside, watching their professional sculpture ponies work. The two sculptures had, so far, carved a six foot long Viking warship. They had put fantastic detail into each plank of wood; grain, knots in the wood even a couple of barnacles on the keel. One Sculpture was just getting started on making oars out of ice to stick out the side of the boat, the other was beginning to put details into the boats dragon figurehead.
Diamond Tiara smirked at Apple Bloom’s shock. “What do you think, Blank Flank?” she laughed cruelly, “contest winning or what?”
Apple Bloom blinked several times before she remembered how to work her mouth. “but...that ain’t fair. y’all gone and hired professionals, you ain’t even doin’ nothin to make it.”
Diamond just laughed some more. “Like that matters, all that matters is something gets built. Every other pony thinks that means they have to get cold and wet building something themselves. You’re just jealous because you didn’t think of hiring somepony to do all that for you.”
Dejected, Apple Bloom moved away from diamond Tiara and her profession art piece, across the square and toward her fellow Crusaders. By comparison to the other entrants —especially Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon’s— their efforts were looking as laughable as Twilight’s and Spike’s amateur effort. The general shape of the human was coming into being but the fact that only Scootaloo —kind of— knew what she was doing, was holding them back.
The loud voice of the mayor called out over the crowd through a magically enhanced megaphone. “Friends and Family, you have ten minutes left.” Apple Bloom picked up her pace to hurry back too their sculpture.
Scootaloo was balanced atop a small step-ladder, using her hoof to scrape away snow and work finer details into the snow-human. The snow-human looked a little better than its twin in the orchard. Scootaloo was details like fingers and the hints of muscles. In her mind she was trying to recall every detail she had seen in the body of the Minotaur Iron Will. According to Lyra-mom, Minotaurs were similar to humans; they had fingers. Working with the Minotaur as a base Scootaloo had built from there. The result was a very tall and quite broad-shouldered human with powerful looking arms but strangely thin-looking legs.
“Where’s Sweetie Belle?” Apple Bloom asked as she noticed their unicorn friend was missing.
“Went to find a few things to make the snow-human into a snow-human-ninja.” Scootaloo called down from atop the ladder. Gingerly she scraped away at the face of the human, forming a more defined jaw line. “Hope she gets back soon, we don’t have long left.”
A small voice called out to them, “a little help”
Sweetie Belle was struggling to carry the long broom handle while trying to avoid knocking over any other ponies snow art. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo rushed over to ease her lengthy burden. As well as the broom handle Sweetie was carrying several strips of long black cloth, as per Scootaloo’s instructions.
Working together the three fillies managed to decorate their snow-human without making any mistakes, or damaging the snow human in any way. They were taking extra care, knowing that if they messed up they wouldn’t have time to correct their mistake. One strip of black cloth was wrapped around the snow-human’s head; making a mask, a longer strip went around the waist; making a large black belt. Then, finally, the broom handle was tied across his back to make a bo-staff.
“We did it!” Apple Bloom yelled triumphantly, “Again!”
For her, it didn’t matter whether they won or not. They had managed, twice in one evening, to work together and build something without making mistakes, clumsy accidents or getting covered snow, mud, tree-sap or anything messy or disgusting. This had been one of their most successful Crusader activities yet.
A bell rang, “TIME’S UP!” The mayor’s voice called, “Contestants step away from your works, the judges will now examine your sculptures.”
The three crusaders stood in the shadow of their towering tall snow-human-ninja, beaming smiles on their faces.
The mayor moved through the crowd of ponies and snow sculptures, followed closely by the contest judges, two ponies from the city hall staff; her secretary Raven and the deputy mayor William Wright, and two Ponyville residents, Cloud Kicker, a pegasus mare who worked Ponyville’s weather team and Colgate, a unicorn mare who was Ponyville’s dentist.
They stopped in front of the first sculpture, a large sea-turtle, with four small elephants standing in a circle on its back, working together to balance a globe on their own backs. It had been built by Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, the latter showing how seriously she took building snow sculpture by wearing a yellow hard hat and fluorescent jacket.
The mayor lowered her glasses to stare at the piece. “Well...” she said unsurely, “it’s certainly an original piece.”
“I love the detail on the shell,” Cloud Kicker leaned in close to get at the fine groove pattern that had been put on the turtles shell, “you even got a couple of barnacles.”
Raven, the mayors secretary, was jotting down notes on a clipboard, “What do you call this?”
Pinkie wore a smile so wide it touched her ears, “The World Turtle,” she said proudly, “the whole of Equestria sits on its-”
A snowball flew out of nowhere and smashed Pinkie square in the face. She yelped, leapt back and fell into the snow-turtle. The sculpture collapsed under and upon her, she emerged a second later coughing and snorting, flurries of snow falling out of her nose.
Rainbow Dash’s wings flared sending her a foot off the ground, she looked left and right angrily. “Who did that?” she yelled, “That wasn’t funny?”
Pinkie shook her head, snow falling out of her frizzy mane, “Not funny at all.” she agreed.
The mayor looked furious, “this is deliberate sabotaging of a contest entry, whoever did this own up now!”
“Chīsana uma no hitobito ni hakai sa reru tame no junbi!”
All heads turned toward the source of the shout. A large pale shape was standing on the roof top of a house. Silhouetted against the moonlight it looked like a tall being, standing on two legs. It reached behind its back with thick arms and pulled free a long staff.
Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle’s jaws dropped. “Is that?” “Can’t be.” “No way.”
The figure jumped from the rooftop, flipped in mid-air on its way down and landed on its icy feet in the middle of the competition area. The three Crusaders saw what it was. The snow-ninja they had built in the orchard, come to life and looking very angry. The eye slits in its mask glowed with an evil green colour as it surveyed the crowed of ponies, stunned and frozen in place with shock.
Its glowing eyes fixed on the three fillies and the smile on its face turned to an evil grin. “Kurieitā wa, anata no oroka-sa wa, anata no shinzoku ni motarashita mono o mokugeki!” It gripped its staff tightly and leapt at them. The three Crusaders screamed and scattered left and right. The snow-ninja let out a loud “HA!” and with a swing of its staff it knocked the head off the snow-human they had just finished building. “Jigoku ni mohō o tokasu!” it punched the remains of lifeless snow-human, smashing it to drifts.
The ponies of Ponyville snapped out of their traces, someone in the crowd screamed. As if this was their cue, the ponies yelled and started running away in their panic.
Apple Bloom found Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle in the panicking fray. “It’s the snow-human!”
Scootaloo nodded, “Yeah, we can see that.”
Sweetie Belle bit her lip nervously, “you think my spell did this?”
Apple Bloom didn’t want to admit it, but the evidence was overwhelming. “Not unless snow-humans come to life on their own.”
The snow-ninja looked left and right, searching through the frightened ponies until it saw the three fillies. It grabbed a scoop of snow off the ground, one hand shaping it into a huge snowball. “Watashi no tsumetai fukushū o kanjiru!” It threw the snowball at them.
The three fillies screamed, they cowered together as the cannonball sized ball of ice came toward them.
“HEY!”
A shadow fell over them, there was a rush of air and the snowball was reduced to flakes. Apple Bloom felt them fall over her and dared to open an eye. Applejack was standing over her, looking down at the three friends. She had bucked the snowball into oblivion. “Y’all get somewhere safe, quick.” she rounded on the snow-ninja, “Y’all leave my sister alone you frosty freak!”
Rainbow Dash landed on her right, “I don’t know what the hay you are, but you mess with my friend, you’re gonna get plowed!”
Rarity appeared at Applejack’s left, “My sentiments exactly, although I would possibly express it a little more eloquently.”
The snow-ninja gripped the staff tightly in its two hands and moved into an attacking stance, “Watashi no hōhō ni tatte, anata wa watashi no ikari ni chokumen shinakereba naranai!”
Rainbow Dash snorted, “Yeah, whatever.” She launched herself at the snow-ninja.
Rainbow Dash tackled the snow-ninja (sninja) in the chest. The snow collapsed around her, giving way and she passed right through its broad chest, she spiralled down and slammed into a small snow drift on the ground.
The sninja laughed as the pegasus stumbled around trying to clear the snow from her eyes. Applejack and Rarity saw Rainbow through the huge hole in the monsters chest. A large hollow circle the size of Rainbow Dash, had been blasted through it. Almost half its chest was just gone but the icy monster wasn’t fazed at all.
As they stared hole shrank, filling with snow and healing the sninja.
Rarity’s horn started to glow, “Applejack, be a dear and distract that horrid thing for a moment?”
Applejack snorted, steam rising from her mouth, “With pleasure.” she charged forward. The sninja took a defensive stance as Applejack spun around and bucked with all her might, the icy monster deflected the blow with its arms.
Rainbow Dash flew up behind him and dove, the sninja seemed to sense her coming, it leapt into the air, spinning around and over Dash’s head. Dash tilted her wings to avoid hitting the ground, the sninja kicked, whacking Dash in the small of the back. She cried out in pain, the blow knocked her out of the air and into Applejack. The two ponies tumbled together in a tangle of tails and hooves, they rolled for several feet through the snow before coming to a stop by slamming into a tree trunk.
“Ow,” Dash groaned, “that didn’t go the way I imagined it would.” the two of them rolled and pushed against each other to untangle themselves.
The sninja’s attention was caught by the icicles hanging from the lowest branch of the tree Applejack and Rainbow Dash were under, their points sharp and glinting in the moonlight. “Watashi wa kore o shūryō shi, u!!” it scooped up a snowball from the ground and launched it, all in one swift movement. It shot with the speed of a bullet toward Applejack and Rainbow Dash. The two ponies were on their feet when the snowball shot between them and slammed into the trunk.
Rainbow laughed, “you missed!”
Applejack heard the noise of the branches shuddering above them, “He didn’t,” she shoved Rainbow hard then leapt back just in time. The sharp icicles fell in the space where the two of them had been just a second ago. The spikes fell through the snow and embedded themselves in the frozen ground.
The sninja grabbed another snowball, its eyes glowed furiously. “Korera no ponī o konran ni, karera wa watashi ga nomu tame ni unten suru.”
“Look-out, here comes Tom!”
The sninja turned to the source of the yell. Too late, it was met with a wall of flying granite. Tom the boulder slammed into it like a runaway truck. The sheer brute force of the blow smashed his icy body into a cloud of snowflakes. Only the head survived being smashed it spiralled through the air before landing on the cold ground.
Rarity used her magic to levitate Tom back to her side, “thank you Tom darling.” she said in a low voice, she didn’t need others to know that she was keeping it around.
Applejack and Rainbow Dash picked themselves up, brushing snow from their bodies. “Thanks sugar-cube, perfect timin’.”
Rainbow nudged AJ with a hoof, “I don’t think it’s over yet.” she pointed to a snowdrift which was slowly growing. The sninja’s head was sitting atop the drift, gathering snow to itself and rebuilding its body.
Applejack adjusted her hat, “well let’s get this done. Rainbow, go long.”
Rainbow Dash grinned, “gotcha,” she took off into the air as Applejack charged toward the sninjas head. The monster roared, its eyes wide in fright as the earth pony raced at him. At the last second Applejack spun around then bucked its head clear off its non-existent shoulders. It sailed up in the air like a football.
Rainbow Dash dove downwards, an evil grin on her face. “Dash comes in from the rear, she prepares for the kick,” she swung her back legs forward, her g-force adding extra power to the blow. She kicked the sninja in the face, sending it up even higher, “it’s up!” Dash grinned as she watched the snow-human’s head fly onwards up and up out of Ponyville and toward the Everfree forest. Rainbow rose her hooves over her head, “and IT’S GOOD!”
...***...
The triumphant trio walked back through the now abandoned town square. Rarity was levitating Tom behind her while Rainbow Dash and Applejack shared a hoof-bump. Shadows peeked at them from windows.
“Well, I’m glad that is over,” Rarity adjusted her scarf, wrapping it tighter around her neck. “I wonder what that monster was.”
“and where’d it came from,” Applejack added.
Twilight, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy emerged from the interior of sugar-cube-corner, the three cutie mark crusaders were right behind them. “I think we can answer that,” Twilight said as she looked at the three fillies, “girls?”
The crusaders shrank down on their haunches, their ears pinned to their heads. “Sweetie Belle was the first to speak, “it was my fault.”
“No it ain’t,” Apple Bloom interrupted, “Sweetie didn’t even wanna cast that spell, we made her do it,”
“Right,” Scootaloo nodded, “none of this would’ve happened if I weren’t for us. If you’re gonna blame anypony, blame us.” she indicated Apple Bloom and herself.
“Scoots?” came the voice of Lyra as she and Bon-bon rounded a nearby corner, their eyes lit up as they caught sight of their daughter. Scootaloo rushed over to her adoptive parents, straight into Bon-bon’s forelegs and a tight hug.
Lyra smiled gratefully to Rainbow Dash, “Thank you, we knew you’d keep her safe.”
Dash smiled with pride, “hey, no problem. Any time.”
Scootaloo hugged Bon-bon tighter, “Moms, I’m sorry, we didn’t mean for this to happen.” Bon-bon looked down at her child with some confusion.
“Scootaloo, what’s the matter?”
Pinkie popped up into the middle of the group, carrying a tray full of mugs of freshly made hot chocolate. “Hey everypony, it’s cold out here, c’mon in before your hoofsies freeze.”
Twilight was grateful the tension had been broken. She took one of the mugs in her magic. “I think we should all go inside and the girls can fill us all in, from the beginning.”
...***...
Deep in the Everfree forest the disembodied head of the snow-human-ninja came crashing to the ground. It lay still for several minutes in the frozen glade, the light in its hollow eyes was dim and cold.
It had been defeated, dishonoured and decapitated. More than that it had been humiliated, cast aside and knocked deep into the forest like the battle had been a childish game. It would not stand for this. It would have its revenge.
Its eyes started to glow brighter. Above its head the branches of the trees shook as snow fell downwards. The flakes gathered into clumps, the clumps into snowballs. Larger and larger they grew, every scrap of snow in the area was moving toward it. It shifted and shaped, moved like liquid underneath the head, picking it up and perching it on slowly forming shoulders.
There forest canopy was thick, it had stopped a lot of the snow reaching the floor and low branches. The snow-human was barely two feet tall, its limbs were tiny and malformed, the head was comically huge compared to its tiny baby sized body. Not enough snow, not enough at all. But it was enough to get it mobile and that would suffice for now. “Anata no unmei, ponī-mura ni chokumen suru junbi o!”
CRACK!
The sninja spun and faced the sound of the breaking branch. It was met with a pair of green glowing eyes. The tiny sninja looked up and up and up, taking in the huge body of the monstrous timberwolf. The timberwolf growled, each of the wooden stakes that made up its teeth were as large as the sninja’s head.
The sninja put its tiny body into an attacking stance, “Watashi o nakama ni kuru!”
Sunlight shone into Sweetie Belle’s eyes, driving her out of her sleep. A few seconds after consciousness she began to notice details like the chill in the air and the fact that, whatever she was sleeping on, it didn’t feel like her bed.
Slowly, the memories began to return to her tired mind; the snow-human attack, Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash coming to the rescue and then Pinkie Pie inviting them inside for hot chocolate and cookies. One mug had turned to two, then to three and then -it seemed- the party had turned into an unplanned sleepover.
Several futons had been laid out and shared amongst the ponies. Apple Bloom was snuggled up against Applejack, Scootaloo was in between her mothers, Lyra and Bonbon, Rainbow Dash was nearby, snoring like a buffalo and Pinkie Pie was asleep in her bed with the two baby Cake twins. Spike was curled up by the fireplace and Sweetie was alone in her corner of the futon. She was about to rejoin the group in dream land when she heard her name.
Wiping the sleep from her eyes she slid out of bed and padded as quietly as she could, moving toward the voices. As they became clearer she recognised them as Twilight and Rarity’s. They were coming from downstairs, in the shop area. Sweetie stood near the top of the stairs, watching and listening, out of sight. Twilight and Rarity were sitting at one of the stores small tables, sharing a pot of tea while they talked about her.
Rarity filled Twilight’s teacup, “I don’t want to sell Sweetie Belle short darling, Celestia knows she tries, but she has never really shown much aptitude for magic. Setting things of fire certainly, but not magic.”
Twilight nodded as she levitated the cup to her mouth to take a quick sip. “It may not be her special talent,” they both shared a knowing look, which confused Sweetie Belle, “but it certainly seems to be a skill she does posses. Just like my special talent is magic but I have special skills in organisation and information, and your special talent is making beautiful fashions but you have that special skill in finding gems where nopony else can. We’re more than our mark and Sweetie Belle must have some kind of underlying skill present. She must be given the opportunity to explore and develop it. Casting a Come To Life spell is difficult, even I have trouble with it. Even though her spell went wrong it indicates she might just need a little practise and proper teaching.”
Rarity looked doubtful, “you haven’t seen her trying to levitate things. They all set on fire.”
“It may just be a sign of how she is under-trained,” Twilight explained, “when I was her age my magic was so raw I turned my parents into potted plants.”
Rarity smiled, suppressing a laugh. “Well, I see your point, I suppose.” she finished her tea, “but are you sure? You’re so busy with your own studies and your duties to the princess and running the library, do you think you’ll have the time take Sweetie Belle on as your pupil?”
Sweetie gasped, putting her hoof over her mouth to mask the sound. Twilight Sparkle, pupil to Princess Celestia, wanted to teach her magic.
Twilight nodded, “I think I can make the time. I spent most of last night working out a schedule that would work for both of us. She might find it a little heavy on study for her taste, but I’ll be applying the same methods Princess Celestia used on me. If she has the talent I think she does she’ll make some amazing progress.” She then turned to look at the stairs where Sweetie was hiding, “that is, if you agree Sweetie Belle?”
Sweetie jumped in surprise, her hoof slipped and she toppled down the stairs, rolling in a white and purple ball. She crashed hard at the bottom with a thud that made the whole room shake. “Ow,” she groaned, rubbing her head with her hoof, “how’d you know I was there?”
Twilight and Rarity laughed lightly, “Sweetie Belle,” Rarity said as delicately as she could, “let’s just say your special talent doesn’t involve the light steps of a dancer.”
Sweetie rose to her hooves and brushed herself down. The pain was forgotten as she remembered what Twilight had said just before she fell, “You mean it Twilight? You wanna be teach me about magic?”
Twilight nodded, “I do Sweetie Belle, if you want me to be your teacher.”
“YES!” Sweetie leapt forward, wrapping her forelegs around Twilight in a tight hug.
“Teacher-Pupil PARTY!!!”
The sudden scream from the top of the stairs made all three ponies turn around. Pinkie was bouncing down the stairs, using her tail as a pogo stick. The Cake Twins were in her forelegs, laughing with each jump.
The assembled ponies couldn’t help but smile, “Pinkie,” Twilight explained, “it’s too early for a party, we haven’t even had breakfast yet.”
If anything Pinkie seemed to become more excited, “ooohh but breakfast parties are the best and I haven’t done one in so long. Just wait right there and I’ll take care of everything.” she raced off to the kitchen with such speed she left behind a cloud of dust which was a perfect silhouette of herself. Half a second later they heard the manic sounds of laughing babies and the clatter of plates and pans coming from the kitchen.
BOOM
The whole room shook for a second.
“Pinkie Pie,” Rarity glanced toward the kitchen doors, “whatever are you doing darling?”
BOOM
The room shook again. Cups trembled in their saucers and plates rattled on the table. Pinkie stuck her head out of the kitchen doors, looking confused. “That’s not me, I thought it was you.”
BOOM
The vibration was a little more violent this time. It sounds like thunder was rolling closer to Ponyville.
“What’s goin’ on down here?” Applejack came down the stairs, stifling a yawn. Her hair was messy and she was missing her trademark hat.
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo trotted down the stairs, “is Pinkie lettin’ off her party cannon?” the farm filly asked her big sister.
BOOM
Pinkie came back into the store from the kitchen. The baby Cakes were hanging onto her back and looked slightly afraid of the mysterious trembling. “It’s not me, that’s not the sound of my party cannon.”
BOOM
This time the vibration was so violent that the teacups jumped off the table. Raity grabbed them in her magic before they hit the floor.
“GUYS!” Rainbow Dash came shooting down the stairs at full speed. Out of all the ponies present she looked wide awake. “Outside, QUICK!” she raced off out of the door, leaving a rainbow contrail behind her.
BOOM
Lyra and Bonbon raced down the stairs. Bonbon made a beeline for Scootaloo while Lyra raced outside after Rainbow Dash. “Scoots, some here.” she didn’t wait for her filly to reply, she scooped her up and placed her on her back, something she hadn’t done since Scootaloo had been a foal.
Scootaloo blushed furiously and jumped off again, “Mom! What are you doing?”
BOOM
The shaking that accompanied the boom was so violent that all the ponies staggered, the fillies were almost knocked off their hooves.
“Scootaloo, now!” Bonbon grabbed her daughter again and placed her on her back. This time Scootaloo didn’t protest, not that she was given time, the second she was on her mothers back Bonbon broke into a gallop, the pegasus filly barely had time to grab onto her mothers mane to stop herself falling off.
“Come on.” Twilight raced after her and the others followed.
All of Ponyville was waking up to the noise. Ponies were looking out of windows, or standing in the street, trying to figure out the source of the commotion.
“Over here!” Rainbow Dash called out to the girls. Not that she needed to point out the problem. It was big enough for all to see.
It looked like the Sninja but at the same time it didn’t. It was huge, standing over twenty feet tall. It towered over the houses and cottages of Ponyville. It was no longer made of snow, the sub-zero temperatures of the night had turned a body of snow into solid ice. It had replaced its boom-handle bo-staff with a teen foot long tower of wood that looked like it had been wrought from a tree of the Everfree forest. To top it all, it was now wearing armour, made of the sticks and branches of a Timberwolf. The monster’s body had been reshaped into a huge chest plate, which spanned its huge torso, and wicked looking spiked gloves, complete with giving claws on the end of its fingers, making its pony sized fists all the more dangerous.
It threw its head back and roared so loud windows rattled in their frames. “Kyō wa ponī no mura, shinu!”
“That thing’s huge,” Applejack gasped, “what do we do?”
The Sninja pulled its bo-staff free from behind its back. It glared at the group of ponies assembled around Sugarcube corner. Its icy grin became sinister, its teeth were made of huge and sharp icicles. It took another step forward, the ground shook with the BOOM.
The sight of the giant sninja approaching them with a murderous look on its face had them all frozen in fright. Twilight managed to get her head together enough to speak, “If a Come To Life spell makes that thing move, we have to remove the spell,” BOOM “I don’t know if I have enough magic to remove a spell from something that big,” she stuttered nervously, “Lyra, Rarity, even you Sweetie Belle, I’ll need help from all of you.” she looked at the group, “Pinkie, Fluttershy, you help get ponies to safety, Applejack, Rainbow, we’ll need time to gather all the magic for the spell, you think you can keep that thing busy for five minutes?”
Rainbow Dash threw a quick salute, “no problem.” She shot off toward the giant sninja.
Applejack adjusted her hat, “We’ll get you them five minutes sugarcube,” she turned to her little sister, “Apple Bloom, y’all get outta here, go with Bonbon and Scootaloo.”
The little filly looked up at her sister, “But Applejack-”
“No missy,” she interupted, “I don’t wanna see y’all get hurt, you run and stay safe okay?”
Bonbon scooped up Apple Bloom and placed the filly on her back next to Scootaloo. “I’ll look after her.”
Applejack smiled gratefully, “Thank ya’ kindly.” she ran off after Rainbow Dash and toward the sninja.
Bonbon ran the opposite direction, further away from the ice giant and toward safety, carrying the protesting fillies with her.
“Come on,” Twilight nudged her head to the safety of a side street, “every second counts and this is a difficult spell.”
Rarity looked nervously at Sweetie Belle, “Twilight darling, I’m opposed to putting my little sister in danger, can’t Sweetie run away with her friends.”
“Rarity, I wanna help,” Sweetie Belle protested, “this is my fault and I wanna fix it.”
Rarity grimaced, “when we aren’t in danger of being crushed my a runaway snow-sculpture we’ll have a long conversation about your punctuation.”
Twilight shook her head, “We’ll need all the magic we can get Rarity, but since Sweetie cast the spell in the first place we’ll need some of her magic in the mix for the counter-spell to work.
Rarity looked doubtful, "Twilight," behind her the sninja roared again, her mind was changed, "okay, just stay close to me Sweetie Belle."
*
Rainbow Dash flew around the sninjas head, the beast roared in frustration. It swung the massive bo-staff, Rainbow banked sharply feeling the air as the tree sized object missed her by barely a foot.
down at the monsters feet, Applejack ran around unnoticed. one end of a length of rope was in her teeth, the other was being swung around by her tail. this would be the biggest thing she'd ever lassoed but she felt she was up for the challenge.
One powerful swing of the tail launched the rope, it soared through the air and found it mark, snagging on a branch sticking out of the lowest part of the sninjas chest plate.
Rainbow flew close, spinning around and bucking him hard between the eyes. the monster howled and swung his huge icy hand, trying to swat Dash like a fly. Rainbow dove down sharply, the huge fist missed her and the sninja smacked himself in the face. "Ha!" Rainbow laughed at the monster. It glared at her, its green eyes burning like fire. Rainbow gulped, she'd made it really mad.
Applejack raced as quickly as she could, running in wide circles, around and around the sninja, trailing rope behind her, wrapping it around the monsters legs while Rainbow was keeping it distracted in place. "One more pass," she grunted as she raced again. She was getting dizzy and with every second there was a greater chance the giant would see her. She pumped her legs harder, ignoring the burn in her lungs from the cold air.
The turn completed Applejack let go of the rope in her teeth, then released it from her body with an expert flick of her tail. AJ yelled, “Rainbow, now!”
In the air Rainbow Dash soared upwards, out of the long reach of the Sninja. She stuck out her tongue, “see ya!” with a laugh she flew away toward the centre of Ponyville.
The Sninja roared and moved after her, the rope tightened around its bound legs. It overbalanced and fell, a slow but inevitable topple like a falling tree. There was even enough time for the shock and realisation to register in its face as it saw the ground getting closer. It threw out its arms to break the fall but too late, it crashed into a house, the wooden frame splintered and collapsed under its vast weight. It became obscured by a thick cloud of dust which rose from the wreckage.
*
The gang of unicorns stood in a circle, their horns aglow. The blue light of Rarity’s magic and the golden glow of Lyra’s magic flowed in streams to Twilight’s building cone of magenta light, their raw magical energy flowing into and becoming one with her concentrated spell. It glowed intensely, building up a second cone atop the first. The magenta cone swirled with spirals of blue and gold, adding to Twilight’s power.
Sweetie Belle screwed up her eyes and tried to concentrate but she could summon nothing but a few weak sparks of energy. She gritted her teeth and focussed so hard beads of sweat ran down her forehead. “I can’t do it Twilight.”
Trying not to break her concentration, Twilight opened one eye and looked at Sweetie Belle’s furious efforts. How had she managed to cast a Come To Life spell in the first place? She had to have some kind of skill magic, she just didn’t know how to control it. She had to learn and learn quick. Under normal circumstances Sweetie might have been able to sit this out but this was far from normal. Sweetie Belle’s magic had given it life, that magic fuelled the beast and as the sninja had become larger and more powerful so had the spell giving it life. Magic that grown that powerful could only be undone by the same kind of magic that had cast it. They needed some of Sweetie’s magic in the spell or it wouldn’t work. It might hurt, even damage or weaken the monster but it wouldn’t defeat it.
She thought back to the earliest days as Celestia’s student, trying to learn spells that had seemed impossible. She remembered what Celestia had said to her at that time, “Sweetie, you can do this. You’ve already demonstrated you have the skill,” as though it was emphasising her point the snow monster’s loud roar echoed around them.
Sweetie shook her head furiously, tears of frustration were rising in her eyes. “It was an accident, I don’t know how I did it, it just happened. Doing something by accident and doing it on purpose are two different things,”
Twilight’s magic rose again, a third cone of magenta light glowed from her horn. She could feel the strain running through her body, this was an effort she hadn’t put herself through since she’d had to stop a rampaging Ursa Minor. Small bolts of magical energy, in blue, magenta and gold, were arcing off her horn, grounding themselves in the ground. Twilight knew she wouldn’t be able to hold onto the power for more than a few minutes, it would have to be released or it could destroy her. It could also destroy most of Ponyville, when raw magic was built up like this without being channelled out into a spell it had the potential to explode.
But all this magic would be useless, just a stunning light show like so much fireworks without Sweetie Belle’s magical energy to reverse the spell cast on the giant ice ninja. She started it and she would be needed to finish it. “There isn’t any different Sweetie Belle!” Twilight’s voice was strained with the effort of holding onto the increasingly wild magical energy, “it’s only different in your mind,” she didn’t notice a tickle of blood run out of her nose. A large bolt of magic grounded itself, leaving a perfect circle in the snow, the steaming ground had been baked hard. “Sweetie, if i’m going to teach you then this is your first lesson, the power is in you. The magic you need is there, in you, in me in everypony. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us all. If you could see the world the way I do you’d understand, we’re luminous beings made of starlight, not this crude matter or these simple bodies. Concentrate, open your mind, feel with your heart. Feel the magic of the world around you; between you, me, the trees, the rocks, everywhere! You can do it Swetie Belle, I believe in you.”
Twilight had repeated, almost word for word, the same speech Celestia had told to her when Twilight herself had been a struggling, scared, filly trying to learn and control her magic. After the magical surge of her entrance exam she had been so scared of messing up that badly again she had been almost unable to do simple levitation. Celestia had shown her patience and understanding and Twilight was trying to show the same to Sweetie Bell right now. Although- admittedly- the circumstances hadn’t been quite so dire for Twilight.
Sweetie looked scared, but felt a reassuring hoof on her shoulder. Rarity was looked down at her with confident pride. “I believe in you too Sweetie Belle, we all do.”
Sweetie’s lip twitched in the beginnings of a smile, “okay, I’ll try.” she closed her eyes again and took a deep breath. ‘open your mind, feel with your heart.’ she tried to clear her thoughts. She felt a warmth deep in her core.
Somewhere in the distance came the thunderous crashing of the sninja tripping over and crashing into a house. For Sweetie Belle the noise was drowned out, far away. It was something happening far away that didn’t concern her.
Sparks flew out of the tip of her horn. The felt the energy rush through her, sparks of warms that rushed up through her hooves from the ground. The earth, that was where the magic came from. In that second she understood. She didn’t make the magic, she just channelled it. It was all around her, just waiting to be called upon. She felt it, rushing up from the earth itself into her, into all ponies and all things. It was electricity and she was a light-bulb. She took the raw power and turned into what she wanted. In the case of a light-bulb that was heat and light. In the case of Sweetie Belle it was the spell needed to destroy that thing she had created.
A stream of green light flowed out of Sweetie Belle’s horn. She felt it and the others saw it. None of them dared to saw anything in case it broke her concentration. The magic rose up into the air and swirled around them like smoke before it finally made its way into the building magical bomb of Twilight’s collected energy. The second Sweetie’s magic touched Twilight’s own there was a surge of power. Twilight grunted from the strain, trying to brace herself as a fourth cone of light burst out of her horn. She felt her whole body vibrating, like lightning was in her veins. The four cones of magenta light were blindingly bright, contained with each layer were swirling clouds of the borrowed magic. Sweetie’s green magic surrounded the newest layer around her horn, in the next cone was Lyra’s gold and then came Rarity’s blue, the fourth layer was pure magenta of Twilight’s magic. “We’re ready.” Twilight’s voice was deep and echoed. Her eyes sparked with the power. “You two stay here, Sweetie, with me, keep feeding me that spell until the end.”
*
As Twilight and Sweetie Belle stepped out of their hiding place the sninja was realising itself. It reached to the ground and scooped up a huge handful of snow in its massive fist. The snow was crushed in its grip, squashed down to a solid block of ice in the shape of an enormous snowflake. It was no soft and delicate thing for building snowballs out of, it was the size of a pony, a six pointed star shape and all its edges looked razor-sharp. A snow-flake-ninja-star!
Applejack and Rainbow Dash watched as the sninja ran the star down the ropes around its legs. The rope shredded, offering no resistance. Rainbow gulped deeply, “I think we made it mad.”
Applejack gave her a deadpan expression. “Ya think?”
The snina flipped itself up and onto its feet. Its landing made the whole town shake. It growled through its teeth and rose its massive arm, taking aim with the ninja star. “Shinu!”
Applejack and Rainbow ran as the star was thrown. The huge spinning blade raced at them like a wheel of death.
A magenta lightning bolt shot over the ponies heads, hitting the ninja-star, shattering it like glass. It fell apart into droplets of water that fell harmlessly to the ground. Applejack and Rainbow skidded to a halt, their eyes wide and jaws agape at the sight before them.
Twilight’s whole body seemed to glow with the power flowing through her, the cones of magical power coming from her horn were so bright they made the sun seem dim. The two ponies couldn’t look directly at her. Sweetie Belle was by her side, her horn aglow and still feeding her green magical energy into Twilight’s magenta. “Ready Sweetie Belle?” Twilight’s voice practically crackled with electricity.
Sweetie nodded her head, “ready.”
Applejack and Rainbow Dash decided it would be better to stay out of this. AJ nudged rainbow in the side and pointed to a nearby side street. Rainbow consented with a nod and the two of them ran for cover.
The sninja roared furiously. Grabbing its bo-staff from the ground it charged toward the two tiny ponies. Each footfall made the ground quake, its furious roar was deafening. Sweetie Belle trembled but dug her hooves into the ground, if Twilight didn’t move then she wouldn’t.
Twilight gritted her teeth, her body was dripping sweat. She couldn’t hold onto the spell any longer but she had to wait until the last second, they couldn’t afford to miss.
The giant was on them in just a couple of steps. It towered over them, one flick of its foot would squash the two like bugs. It rose its tree sized bo-staff-
“Now!” Twilight screamed and released the spell. With the brightness of lightning and a noise like thunder the light fired out of her, almost knocking Twilight off her hooves. The raw magic hit the sninja square in the chest. Its wooden chest plate shattered into kindling, the beam charged on into the heart of its torso of solid ice. The icy giant roared in agony, falling back, crashing to the ground. Twilight continued pouring the vast power of the spell into it, filling its whole form until the sninja glowed from head to foot with the magenta light.
The last of the spell released Twilight staggered back, almost fell. Sweetie Belle reached up and supported her until she found her hooves.
The sninja roared and writhed in agony. Deep cracks raced across its body. The magenta light filled every inch of its form except for two tiny spots of green over its eyes.
Twilight and Sweetie Belle rushed for cover between two buildings just in time, there a bright flash of purple light and one final roar as the sninja exploded. The shock wave shattered windows and blew thatch off the rooftops of the surrounding cottages. A purple mushroom cloud, with hints of green, gold and blue, rose into the air. Real clouds in the sky were blown away, revealing the clear blue sky. As the magic cloud started to dissipate Twilight and Sweetie emerged from their hiding place, at the same time Applejack and Rainbow emerged from their own.
Where the sninja had been was a mountain of snow, already beginning to melt in the sun. Its body had been reduced to that from which it had been made. The tree sized bo-staff had been reduced to ash by the explosion, as had the wooden remains of the timberwolf which had provided the body armour.
“Sweetie Belle!”
Rarity rushed down the street, scooping her sister up in her hooves and into a tight hug. “I’m so glad you’re okay.” She squeezed the little filly so tight Sweetie Belle’s face started to turn red. “don’t you ever put yourself in such danger again, do you hear me. I was so frightened.”
Twilight had to sit down, her head was swimming and the rest of her body was aching all over. She would not be doing that again any time soon. Rainbow and Applejack approached, they both looked worse for wear but they had twin grins on their faces.
“That was awesome!” Rainbow declared with pride in her voice and admiration on her face.
Applejack nodded in agreement, “it was amazin, ah thought takin’ out the ursa minor showed you had ability, but this tops that an’ no mistake.”
Twilight managed a tired smile, “thanks girls, but I couldn’t have done it without your help,” she looked over her shoulder to Rarity, Sweetie Belle and Lyra, “without all your help, especially you, Sweetie Belle. Without your magic we couldn’t have done this,” she indicated the mound of snow.
Sweetie Belle blushed and shuffled around on her hooves nervously. “I didn’t really do anything.”
Twilight shook her head gently, “you did exactly what you needed to do. You learned to tap into your magical potential and control it enough to give me the power we needed to undo the Come To Life spell. There’s aren’t many fillies who could gain that kind of mastery so quickly.”
Sweetie looked doubtful and looked to Rarity, “really? I did good?”
Rarity smiled proudly down at her, “you were marvellous darling.”
“Sweetie Belle!!”
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were racing up the street, closely followed by Bonbon, Pike and Fluttershy. The two crusaders ran up to their friend, tacking her to the ground and wrapping their legs around her in a three way hug. “We saw the explosion,” Scootaloo grinned broadly, “it looked awesome, did you do that?”
Sweetie Belle continued to blush, “well...I helped a little.”
Scootaloo’s and Apple Bloom’s eyes widened, “Cool!” they said as one.
Bonbon trotted up to Lyra and the two mares nuzzled each other, “I’m so glad you’re safe,” Bonbon whispered to her wife. “Same with you,” Lyra gave her a sneaky peck on the cheek, “you should have seen it, it was scary but so amazing at the same time,” she glanced at the mane six, “I think I understand why you all keep getting into such strange adventures.”
Twilight grinned sheepishly, “we don’t do that deliberately.”
Pinkie bounced past the group, straight for the pile of snow. Jumping up into the air she donned a scarf and hat she seemed to pull from nowhere before landing on her back. She waved her hooves and legs from side to side to make a snow angel.
Fluttershy grinned nervously, “is it over?” she asked timidly, “everpony wants to know if they can come home yet.”
Twilight nodded her head, “it’s over, you can bring them all back.”
Fluttershy nodded her head, “okay.” she flew off back the way she’d come.
Scootaloo had turned her attention away from Sweetie Belle and was now focussed on Rainbow Dash’s retelling of the events. “You should have seen it Scoots,” she waved her arms around energetically, “he came from the left, I spun through the air and dived down to the right. He tried to claw me but I was too quick for him-”
“Anypony want a snowcone?” Pinkie popped up in the middle of the group with a tray of brightly coloured snowballs each in a cardboard cone.
Everypony stared incredulously at her for several seconds. Then Sweetie Belle smirked, Apple Bloom started to giggle, then Scootaloo and, finally, the whole group joined in with the raucous laughter.
