twilightpony | Picnic On The Snow

It was a long hike through the snow to reach Saddle Lake and the Canterlot Falls. We were all carrying a fair bit in our saddle bags. The food, a game of horseshoes, ice skates, a few picnic blankets, a ball, Rarity's tea set, my books, a pot and bowls... But the scenery was beautiful, and we chatted up a storm as we clattered through fields, down trails and through woods to our destination. We crossed most of Saddle Lake to get close to falls, but we stayed far enough away to avoid the thin ice. The spray from the falls had built huge pillars of ice, definitely worth the trip. Then Rainbow Dash cleared out the clouds, and in the bright sunshine, the ice pillars glistened and sparkled.

While I helped Rarity and Fluttershy spread our blankets on the snow, Applejack and Dash set up the game of horseshoes and Pinkie had Spike clear a large area for skating. Spike carefully blasted the snow off the lake ice, leaving a surface seared mirror-smooth. Before lunch we had a game of hoof ball on an uncleared part of the lake, three on three with Spike as referee. We banned Applejack from punting the ball. She kicks it too far, right out of the field! We played the "touch" version. You have to get past the defense ponies to touch the pony rolling the ball to stop the play. If you catch the ball in mid pass you can steal it, and if you can keep the other team from advancing more than ten pony-lengths in three tries, the ball is yours. We played that for an hour before breaking for lunch.

The picnic was delicious. I especially liked the hot soup and Rarity's teas, out there on the frozen lake and surrounded by snow. After lunch I soaked up the sun with Rarity and Fluttershy while we watched Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Spike play horseshoes (and search for them in the snow after wild throws). We also watched Pinkie Pie skate and spin.

The snow on the lake was fairly hard, so I tried to cut out blocks to make a snow stable like the one Leaf Hairrakesson had built on our way back from Winter's home. It didn't work, the blocks kept crumbling. Maybe it wasn't the right snow.

Late afternoon, it was time to head back. We collected our things and we followed our tracks back the way we came. In the woods again, Fluttershy called for a stop. She asked us all to be as quiet as possible and to tell her what we could hear. The sun was still shining, there was hardly any wind, and the snow muffled all of the sound. At first we could only hear silence. But then, little by little, we tuned in to small subtle noises. Like the soft 'woomph' of snow falling off a tree branch, the drip-drip-drip of melting snow. The sharp crack of a tree under the influence of expanding ice. And the tinkle of icicles colliding. And the grumbling of Spike's stomach. We moved on.

It was shortly after sunset when we got back to Ponyville and we all went home.